Hospitality

Expert appraisals of every aspect of the hotel industry, from tech stacks to guest experience to market sizing and beyond

Online Travel

A Deep Dive into Google Travel Part II: U.S. vs Europe in 20 Charts

The underlying hotel supply in Europe is much less branded than it is in the U.S., meaning a greater reliance on OTAs for bookings. In turn there is a more fragmented online distribution market in Europe, with Google’s introduction of an organic auction providing further opportunity for smaller OTAs and new entrants to gain market share.

November 2023
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Online Travel

A Deep Dive into Google Travel Part I: U.S. Hotel Distribution

In this web scraping exercise of Google Hotels, we consider one of the most interesting questions in the travel industry currently: what role does Google play in the shifting sands of hotel distribution? Google, not one to stay static, is constantly tweaking its hotels platform and we see its latest iteration contributing directly to the democratization of the online travel market and a dis-intermediation of the legacy OTAs in favour of direct bookings.

October 2023
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Technology

Hotel Tech Benchmark: Payment Solutions 2023

The pandemic accelerated the shift to digital and alternative payments. To capitalize on this, hoteliers should modernize their payment tech stack to offer seamless integration and diverse payment options for increased bookings, higher-value reservations, and improved guest satisfaction.

October 2023
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Online Travel

Short-Term Rental OTAs: Airbnb vs Vrbo in 20 Charts

We attempt to tell you everything you'd want to know about the Airbnb - Vrbo rivalry in 20 charts... Sadly we failed, and give you 23 charts instead. As a bonus we sprinkle in some Booking.com analysis too, data permitting.

September 2023
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Hospitality

Battle of the Midscales: Wyndham vs Choice in 20 Charts

Wyndham and Choice are known for their predominantly franchise-based portfolios in the U.S. midscale and economy sectors. As other major brands explore expansion opportunities into midscale and economy hotels, we offer an analysis of the current market leaders, Wyndham and Choice, through a comparison presented in 20 key charts.

August 2023
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Destinations

State of Travel 2023: Travel in 250 Charts

Travel is back! While 2022 was all about bumper performances in some countries and sectors, and lagging performances in others, we can truly say that 2023 is the year that travel fully recovered. But we do need to be clear-eyed about persisting and upcoming challenges. This report hands you everything you need to know in one 250+ slide deck.

July 2023
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Technology

Hotel Tech Benchmark: Digital Marketing and Advertising Tech 2023

Digital marketing and advertising tools, if utilized effectively can help hotels increase direct bookings, draw in new customers, and improve the overall content strategy. This tech category has the potential to generate $3 billion in annual revenues and is embedded in the industry's future.

July 2023
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Hospitality

Marriott Vs. Hilton: 20 Chart Factbook

Marriott and Hilton are the two largest and most well known asset-light hotel chains in the U.S. Both companies' stock prices and valuations soared in 2020/21, with Hilton outperforming Marriott. However as any SEC rule book will tell you - past performance isn't indicative of future results. This handy 20 chart factbook provides investors the key comparisons on the two companies in order to make investment decisions into 2023.

June 2023
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Hospitality

A Deep Dive Into Vacasa and the Future of Branded Short-Term Rentals

Vacasa, like the short-term rental sector writ large, is coming off of a pandemic-fueled growth spree and faces the question of what comes next. Can Vacasa tap into first-party growth while scaling back cash-intensive investments? With investor patience running thin, the clock is ticking.

June 2023
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Technology

Hotel Tech Benchmark: Central Reservation Systems 2023

The abundance of hotel booking channels calls for a tech-enabled distribution strategy. Central Reservation Systems help manage rates and availability across multiple booking channels and have the potential to become a $1.3 billion tech category.

May 2023
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Technology

Generative AI’s Impact on Travel

Generative AI is poised to transform the travel industry. True, there’s plenty of hype out there with little substance to back it up. But even after Skift Research separates the chaff from the wheat, we find that a multi-billion dollar opportunity still remains.

April 2023
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Technology

Hotel Tech Benchmark: Booking Engines, Website Builders, and Direct Booking Tools 2023

With a growing share of hotel bookings made online, many hoteliers are reliant on third-party travel websites for booking volumes, and global visibility. Booking engines, website builders, and direct-booking tools can help these hotels find a better balance between first- and third-party bookings.

April 2023
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