Tag Archives: Skift

In what has to be a disappointment to the often wild and erroneous speculation that Google was on its way to becoming an online travel agency, Google informed tours and activities providers and booking partners that it will phase out Reserve with Google for tour bookings starting August 1, Skift has learned. Reserve with Google enabled tours and activities operators to capture bookings in their Google business listings with travelers not having to navigate to other websites. Online travel… Source link

Editor’s Note: Skift Future of Work Briefing is available exclusively every Friday for subscribers to Skift Pro. As organizations start to embrace distributed work and virtual meetings, the corporate travel and meetings sectors are preparing for change. How will travel managers respond to new patterns of employee mobility? What role will hotels play in catering to distributed workforces and distributed meetings? Can destinations, and airlines, capitalize on the anticipated boom in digital… Source link

Google on Tuesday changed how its hotel price-comparison search works worldwide. The search giant made it free for hotels, online travel agencies, and metasearch brands to list room rates in its boxed pricing module for individual properties. Google has long had a price comparison tab on any given property’s listing within its hotel search interface — found via google.com/travel. Until Tuesday, the search titan only showed paid advertisements when users clicked on the “prices” tab…. Source link

Following in the footsteps of Sabre’s tie-up with Google, it’s now over to Amadeus and Microsoft, which have formed their own strategic partnership. The official statement, issued at the end of last month, coincided with the travel tech giant’s release of its full-year 2020 financial results — a $609 million loss. The announcement was vague: Amadeus will “harness cloud technology to innovate and explore new products and solutions and create smoother travel experiences” and with… Source link

Expedia Group anticipates that consumers will return to booking travel in large numbers over time, and it aims to make the most of that in a phased marketing plan. The company is focusing on making the most of that effort by building up its own brands rather than others, like Google. Executives believe the alternative accommodations sector will continue to see more strength relative to other travel products in the near term. So the first phase of its marketing plan will involve a modest… Source link

While most travel companies focus on making it through the rest of this year, Sabre still has its gaze fixed further ahead. Or more specifically, the year 2025. The Southlake, Texas-based technology company has long debated its vision of personalized retailing by that point, and coronavirus hasn’t dented its appetite. Speaking during Sabre’s third-quarter results earnings call, executives discussed how a partnership with Google would dramatically lower costs. Join Us For Our Skift Aviation… Source link

When GetYourGuide criticized Google for promoting an uneven competitive playing field, some GetYourGuide partners accused GetYourGuide of similar transgressions in the way it markets its Originals tours. GetYourGuide vowed to make amends, the results of which will only become clear in a few months. — Dennis Schaal Source link

As the pandemic brought travel to a standstill in the first quarter and bookings were cancelled en masse, advertisers spent millions of dollars on Google advertising that turned into nothing. Since then, Google made concessions to some advertisers — but they scoff at the paltry amount. Eight German travel companies that sent a letter to Google at the end of April seeking payment concessions on $80 million in first quarter advertising invoices ultimately got relief of less than 10 percent… Source link