At our opening night event for this year’s Skift Global Forum, we had a mini tour de force of leaders that helped pre-game days two and three of the event. Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi came back, again, for another chat with Skift CEO Rafat Ali. As did Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel for a conversation with long-time interviewer Dennis Schaal, Skift’s executive editor. We also welcomed another repeat visitor: Bret Taylor, the CEO of Sierra AI and chairman of Open AI, who first joined us last year.
Each of these leaders is a key player in the future of travel in a distinct way. Khosrowshahi’s company is there for travelers when they’re booking a taxi from the airport to when they’re booking a room to what they’ll eat when they get there (and maybe a ferry or a helicopter in-between). Fogel’s team will get you a room in a hotel or short-term rental virtually anywhere on earth – even that independent four-room hotel in rural Italy. And Taylor’s Sierra will power the sophisticated AI tools that help fix or bridge the gaps that happen with nearly every booking.
Skift Global Forum - Livestream
Opening night set up days two and three. Both are streaming live now.
On the main stage September 23 and 24: the CEOs of Airbnb, Hilton, Expedia, and Hyatt, in conversation with Skift editors, every session as it happens.
MCKINSEY & COMPANY + SKIFT
Skift Research and McKinsey & Company mapped how travelers plan and book in 2026: 65 touchpoints, no clear starting line, and a booking that stays open long after "buy."
Headlines
‘The Traveler Comes to Us’: Uber CEO Explains Break-Even Bet on Hotels
by Meghna Maharishi
September 22, 2026
Royal Caribbean Is in Talks for 50% Stake in Sandals Resorts: Reports
by Sean O'Neill
September 23, 2026
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On today's Skift Daily Briefing, Bailey Schulz, Skift's Global Tourism Reporter, breaks down why sponsored listings may be a billion-dollar bet with an AI-shaped hole in it, how IHG and Hyatt rewired their creator strategies around authenticity over control, and why click-based attribution is the wrong way to measure what creator content actually does.
