Airlines are striking deals with satellite internet providers — mostly Elon Musk’s Starlink — and reliable connectivity has quickly gone from a nice-to-have to a competitive must. Some business travelers are booking away from carriers that don't offer it.

Most major U.S. airlines have signed with Starlink, including United, American, Alaska, Southwest, Hawaiian, and Frontier while Delta and JetBlue have bet on Amazon's Leo, which isn’t rolled out yet.

Starlink isn’t cheap. Industry estimates peg the cost of outfitting a single Boeing 737-800 at roughly $500,000, plus a $15,000 monthly service fee. For airlines, though, the math increasingly has to work. In a market where travelers choose flights partly on whether they can stream and work at 35,000 feet, staying offline is the more expensive option.

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Waiting for certainty could mean falling behind. A new report outlines five moves to protect revenue and margins while continuing to invest.

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Airbnb just committed $250 million toward housing construction starting with an affordable development in Austin, one of the markets where short term rental regulations have hit hardest.

In this clip from Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast, the crew breaks down why this move makes perfect sense as a government relations tool, why it represents only 2% to 4% of Airbnb's cash on hand, and why the timing raises the question of why they did not do this years ago.

How are public travel companies performing around the world? The Skift Travel 200 pulls the data you need to know to understand the market. Paid subscribers get full access here.