GOOD DAY, READERS.
Brian Chesky thinks the way Booking.com and other OTAs mash hotels and homes together in search is a relic of the pre-AI era. On Airbnb's Q1 earnings call, he argued that deep personalization – built on the fact that every Airbnb user is verified and logged in – will replace the tab-vs-co-mingle debate, surfacing only what each traveler actually wants.
This quarter he has the numbers to back up his confidence: revenue up 18% to $2.7 billion, and first-time bookers growing at their fastest pace in four years. Chesky also kept the door open on a loyalty program and flights, calling both "absolutely on the table." It's a clear pitch for what comes after the OTA playbook, even as rivals like Agoda argue they're already further along on AI.
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The Women Leading Travel Forum brings together the executives running travel's biggest brands, the founders building its next chapter, and the directors who will run it in five years.
The speaker lineup next month includes Christine Duffy (President, Carnival Cruise Line), Dana Shapir Alviene (Chief Guest Officer, Breeze Airways), Dr. Romie Mushtaq (Chief Wellness Officer, Great Wolf Resorts), and Olympian Marion Jones.
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Brian Chesky Says Airbnb Won’t Mix Homes and Hotels — That’s ‘Pre-AI’ Design
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Airbnb's Chesky is nothing if not ambitious. Given that people's preferences can change at any moment, the ability to serve customers with only a hotel or home, depending what they need in that instant, seems a long way off, even with agentic AI.
Expedia’s B2B Engine Speeds Up as AI Moves Intensify
by Adriana Lee
Expedia’s B2B engine is proving the partner model works. The catch: It is still the smaller business, and AI is not yet big enough to change that.
Sabre Claims Amadeus Blocks Competition in Airline Technology
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Sabre didn't just report a strong quarter — it used that to publicly pick the biggest fight in airline technology.
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Trivago sues Google over hotel search dominance, Weather.com moves into travel booking, and Tripadvisor explores AI deals while trimming its business.
On today’s Skift Daily Briefing, Sarah Dandashy breaks down Trivago’s new antitrust lawsuit against Google, why Weather.com wants to influence your next trip before you even search for one, and how Tripadvisor is reshaping its business around AI partnerships and strategic selloffs.
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