July 28, 2018 View in browser

Editor's Note

We're reminded this week that getting tech right is both tough and crucial. Our most popular story of the week touches on the integration of the Alaska Airlines and Virgin American reservations systems. After the cutover in April, Alaska mistakenly opened up 40 percent more availability of its award seats at the cheapest levels than it had done a year earlier. The tech glitch ended up hurting Alaska's second quarter financial results. Likewise, American Airlines disclosed that it had to cancel 3,000 flights when one of its regional airlines experienced a tech outage.

Meanwhile, on the tech front, Expedia's hotel boss states in a story that the company is building so much technology for its lodging partners that he wouldn't object if we come to consider Expedia to be on par with a hotel soft brand. Well, that's what Expedia is hoping for.

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Top Stories
Alaska Airlines Made a Costly Loyalty Mistake by Offering Too Many Free Seats

There's no doubt U.S. airlines are spooked by higher oil prices. By historical levels, they're not that bad. But perhaps they're catching carriers by surprise.


Amadeus Hospitality Is a Tough Sell Despite Progress With InterContinental Hotels Group

Amadeus hopes to clear some of the underbrush that's grown up in hotel technology. If it succeeds, it will likely reshape the costs and systems used for selling rooms industrywide.


Southwest CEO Says Assigned Seats Still Don’t Make Sense

You have to give Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly credit. Analysts are constantly prodding him to embrace tried-and-true approaches for generating ancillary revenue. For the most part, he resists. He doesn't want to mess with the airline's secret sauce.


American Airlines Legend Bob Crandall on How Mergers Led to Increased Inequality

Bob Crandall called it in the late 1970s, saying airline deregulation would be the ruination of U.S. aviation. You can credit the retired American Airlines chairman and CEO with consistency as he argues that airline mergers — and mergers in general — have contributed to capital accumulation at the expense of workers, and the demise of small cities.


Ryanair Plans to Capitalize on Norwegian's Problems

With Norwegian and others out of the way, Ryanair would have access to more pilots and probably be able to reduce its aircraft costs.


Expedia’s Hotel Boss on Becoming a Global Platform

We still think there's a pretty good chance that we'll see Expedia-branded hotels in the near future if not sooner.

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Editor's Picks
5 Great Summer Reads From Skift

It's summer. Slow down. Take a breath. And catch up with some of Skift's best deep dives and enterprise stories so far in 2018.


Every One of Expedia Group’s 23 Brands, Explained

Check out our Skift Takes on Expedia Group's brands for consumers and businesses. Time for some #realtalk.


Trivago Lays Off Staff in Strategy Shift to Emphasize Profitability Over Growth

A lot of Trivago's problems, including an advertising diss from Booking Holdings, are beyond the company's control so it is doing what it can, namely reducing advertising spend and headcount in an attempt to get into the black. Speaking of Booking Holdings, Trivago may need a dot-com-like Priceline comeback to right the ship.


AccorHotels Takes $288 Million Hit on Onefinestay and John Paul Investments

Uh oh! Is this the start of Accor's ambitious acquisition strategy unraveling or simply a bump in the road?


Hotel Direct Bookings Remain Flat Despite Big Marketing Push

Overall guest satisfaction with hotels in North America is at an all-time high. Still, that doesn't mean the hotel industry should be congratulating itself; there's still work to be done.

The Business of Restaurants

This week we announced our Top Restaurant Tech Startups to Watch (below) as well as startup rates for the first annual Skift Restaurants Forum (apply here). Whether you're a startup or not, we hope to see you at the Forum in September.

Skift Table's Top Restaurant Startups to Watch 2018

Our inaugural list of top tech startups in 2018 contains best-of-breed examples from the kitchen to the host stand and beyond. Restaurant tech is a complicated and fast-growing landscape full of well-intentioned ideas, but success today and beyond lies in the execution of those ideas in a human-powered industry.


The Deaf Restaurant Revolution Is Upon Us

Deaf-owned restaurants are on the rise, transforming careers for an underemployed population.


Remembering Jonathan Gold: The View From Los Angeles

Los Angeles-based freelance writer and Skift Table contributor Lesley Balla has made a career of covering her city's changing restaurant scene, giving her a particularly thoughtful vantage point from which to reflect on what Jonathan Gold's death means for us all.


Beyond Custom Cocktails, Bars and Restaurants Turn to Proprietary Liquor

Restaurants and bars embrace private-label spirits not as a mere flash-in-the-pan gimmick, but as a thoughtful, passionate avenue to heightening the guest experience.


ThinkFoodGroup CEO Details What's Next for The Bazaar by José Andrés

When Andrés cemented the Bazaar partnership with SBE nine years ago, it was a big brand-building opportunity for ThinkFoodGroup. Now, everybody wants to be associated with Andrés, and the company no longer has to keep turning Bazaar expansion opportunities down.

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