Good (holiday) Monday morning to everyone . . .  It is President’s Day, which means those of us in the U.S. get to enjoy an additional day off (sort of, but not really) work.  Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, February 14, 2025, is below.  As I promised in our last Update…

Good Sunday afternoon from Seattle . . .   Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, February 7, 2025, is below.  This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including details on Expedia’s recent quarterly earnings release, news of recent layoffs at TripAdvisor and a heavy does of AI related stories. 
Given recent conversations…

Good Saturday morning from Seattle . . .   Nice to be back in balmy (25°) Seattle after a week working in frigid New York. 
This week’s Update presents yet another announcement by yet another generative AI platform about yet another AI tool that has direct application to (and is likely to have a major disruptive…

Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . .  Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, January 17, 2025, is below.  Other than Perplexity’s newly announced partnership with TripAdvisor (readers, please read the story below), this past week was relatively quiet as the industry (and the world) waits with anticipation (or for some, bated…

Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . .  Our first Online Travel Update for 2025 is below. The past two weeks produced a number of interesting stories, including the Department of Justice’s attempt to stop the planned Amex GBT / CWT merger, interesting predictions coming out of Skift’s recent Megatrends events and valuable reminders for…

Booking.com’s “gatekeeper” designation under the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) and artificial intelligence’s increasing influence on online travel garnered much of the attention this past week.  Enjoy.

• • Chase Scores Major Win with Southwest Airlines.  Want to get away?  Chase Travel has a solution.  Chase Travel is the only online platform (not competing card companies or

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This week’s Update features multiple stories and perspectives on AmexGBT’s newly announced acquisition of CWT and Booking.com’s decision to drop its own sustainability ratings.  I hope you enjoy.

• • AmexGBT Set to Acquire Rival Travel Management Company CWT.  First the details . . .  According to AmexGBT CEO, Paul Abbott, the $570 million acquisition will allow

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