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The Skift Travel Podcast: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Skift
Get the latest from the most-trusted travel industry news source. Skift sits down with creatives, executives, and entrepreneurs from across travel to discuss their insights and perspectives on the hows and whys of travelers’ habits, industry patterns, and the seismic changes happening across the industry. Listen for exclusive conversations with travel leaders and Skift's own in-house editors and analysts. Read the latest news every day at skift.com/news.
Latest Episodes
The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 3 days ago39 min
The $100 Billion Travel Market Everyone Underestimates
Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko discuss Skift Research’s new Silver Tsunami report and the nearly $100 billion U.S. retirees are expected to spend on travel in 2026. They also preview Skift Global Forum, including Airbnb’s push into hotels, the travel infrastructure companies building around AI, and the growing debate over AI risk. The episode closes with a discussion of rising borrowing costs and what higher interest rates could mean for travel development and supply. This episode is brought to you by ZS Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social X: https://twitter.com/skift Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry. 00:00 Retirees Spend Big 01:14 Silver Tsunami Explained 02:32 Gen Z vs Older Travelers 05:47 Survey Insights on Spending 07:05 Urgency and Mortality 09:41 Cruises and Product Fit 10:09 Retiree Spend Forecasts 12:07 Hotels Meet Communities 14:01 Global Forum Preview 15:41 Airbnb Hotels and AI 18:48 AI Risk Goes Mainstream 26:45 Winner Power Rankings 31:46 Loser Fed Rate Hike 34:07 Rates Impact Travel Builds 36:16 Wrap Up and Tickets
- 5 days ago17 min
Premium Is Becoming Table Stakes for Travel. Now What?
Premium travel is booming, but the opportunity is becoming much bigger than luxury. In this special episode of the Skift Travel Podcast, brought to you by ZS Associates, Jeremy Kressmann, Vice President, Skift Studio, sits down with Alex Trusca, Associate Principal, ZS Associates, to unpack why premiumization is emerging as a broader commercial strategy across travel. They discuss why premium spending can extend well beyond high-income travelers, how brands can use services like late checkout, early check-in, priority access, and personalized offers to create incremental revenue, and why simply charging travelers for something they previously received for free isn’t a premium strategy. The conversation also explores how travel brands can use personalization to capture different willingness-to-pay across the same customer’s trips and occasions. Jeremy and Alex also look at the next generation of premium travelers, what luxury brands need to do before younger consumers’ preferences lock in, and the question commercial leaders should be asking as they build their 2027 strategies.
- 1 weeks ago42 min
Travel’s New Access Divide
Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko reflect on 25 years since 9/11 and how the attacks reshaped modern travel, from TSA and airport security to PreCheck, Clear, and the airport gate experience. They also discuss why New York City hotels are so expensive in September, how peak-demand “compression nights” drive hotel pricing, and what Sarah’s experience using Instinct reveals about the next phase of AI-powered travel booking. This episode is brought to you by ZS Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social X: https://twitter.com/skift Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry. 00:00 Remembering 9/11 01:04 Seth’s 9/11 Story 04:22 How Flying Changed 08:40 Travel Resilience Data 11:12 Airlines Consolidate 15:08 NYC Travel Now 17:48 Hotel Rates Explained 23:12 Instinct AI Agent 28:05 Reservation Wars 33:36 Winners and Losers 39:42 Wrap Up and Plug
- 2 weeks ago52 min
Fake AI Hotel Videos Are Coming for Travel
Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko break down two travel distribution stories that are really about trust. First, Skift found AI-generated TikTok Go videos promoting a Sedona luxury resort with fake amenities, fake-looking creators, and commission tags that did not match the booking reality. Then, they unpack Dennis Schaal’s reporting on a bombshell estimate that Booking may be larger than Expedia in B2B room nights — a finding that could reshape how the industry thinks about OTA competition. This episode is brought to you by ZS Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social X: https://twitter.com/skift Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry. 00:00 AI TikTok Resort Scam 02:33 Breaking Down TikTok Go 03:23 Fake Amenities and Synth Creators 04:58 Cylon Detour 06:11 Affiliate Incentives Explained 07:30 Broken Links and Bad Actors 08:36 Owners and Brand Protection 13:06 Economics of TikTok Go 18:51 Trust Crisis for Travel Brands 23:19 Real World Guest Fallout 24:22 OTAs Meet TikTok 25:40 B2B White Label Basics 27:06 Real World Examples 29:43 Expedia B2B Dominance 32:07 Booking Consolidates B2B 33:35 Jaw Dropping Analyst Note 35:51 Scale Explains Surprise 43:27 Product Quality vs Volume 46:32 Winners and Losers 48:24 Global Forum Wrap Up
- 3 weeks ago48 min
United’s New Routes Reveal Travel’s Next Bet
United is adding 10 new international routes, from Ibiza and Slovenia to Okinawa and Sardinia. Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko discuss what the expansion says about premium leisure demand, how new long-range narrowbody aircraft are changing route economics, and why Generator’s premium-hostel strategy points to a new opportunity in the squeezed mid-market hotel space. 00:00 United Adds 10 Routes 00:54 Which Flights To Book 02:29 Leisure Travel Targeting 04:39 Premium Status Signaling 05:34 A321XLR Explained 07:19 Long And Skinny Economics 08:43 Charting Narrowbody Growth 10:25 Big Plane Nerding 12:43 More Oddball Nonstops 15:49 Hostel News And Freehand 18:46 Generator Goes Premium 21:55 Luxury Ladder Strategy 22:34 Generator Hostel Growth 23:24 Hostel Stigma and Selina 24:33 Pod Hotels vs Lifestyle 26:18 Airbnb and Segmentation 26:49 AI Op Ed Debate 30:40 Bad Writing and Care 35:10 AI Detectors and False Positives 40:17 Winners and Losers 43:31 NYC BQE Winner 45:49 Listener Questions and Wrap
- Aug 21, 202644 min
Travel’s AI Reckoning Has Arrived
Google paid $10 million for Spirit Airlines’ data. Airbnb is showing real AI-driven savings. Booking says AI still accounts for less than 1% of room nights. Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko break down travel’s AI reckoning: what is paying off, what is still experimental, and why data, trust, and ROI now matter more than AI hype. Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social X: https://twitter.com/skift Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry. 00:00 Google Buys Spirit Data 01:35 AI’s Hunger for Training Data 03:13 LLM Language Quirks 05:39 From Jokes to Business Impact 05:45 Bankruptcy Data as New Brand 08:03 Why Travel Data Is Special 10:25 Seat Politics and Spotify Age 13:18 Google’s ITA Playbook 18:13 AI Usefulness in Travel Tech 20:09 Airbnb AI ROI Proof 22:17 Beyond Chatbots Debate 25:43 Revenue Upside Signals 29:23 Bookings Still Tiny 31:34 AI Trip Planning Stories 34:45 Trust Gap Chart 36:46 Who Owns Booking 38:37 GDS Plumbing Goes AI 39:43 Winners Listener Shoutouts 41:36 Closing Thanks
- Aug 14, 202650 min
The State of Travel Is Getting Harder to Control
Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko unpack two forces reshaping travel: the creator economy’s impact on hotel brands and Skift Research’s State of Travel 2026 report. They discuss the Aman creator controversy, why hotels need a new playbook for independent reviewers, and the new Travel Stack framework showing how consumers, commerce, operations, and experiences are changing across the industry. Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social X: https://twitter.com/skift Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry. 00:00 State of Travel Teaser 01:04 Inside the Report 02:22 Chart Nerd Talk 03:03 Ironing Board Hack 06:44 Aman Drama Goes Viral 08:48 Creator vs Media Explained 10:49 What Happened at Aman 14:08 Aman Responds to WSJ 16:53 Crisis Comms Lessons 21:05 Creators and Headlines 24:43 Back to State of Travel 25:05 Whimsy Meets Data 25:54 New Travel Stack Framework 28:18 Breaking Down Consumers 31:11 Favorite Charts and Trends 33:08 Booking Channels Trust Gap 35:25 Green Talkers Sustainability Gap 36:34 Psychographics Explained 43:40 Finding the Report Link 44:29 Black Toilet Seat Update 45:18 Winners Losers Eclipse Tourism 47:43 Final Goodbye and Feedback
- Aug 7, 202644 min
Why Every Major Hotel Brand Is Giving Money Back to Owners
Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt are all offering new relief to hotel owners. Climate is creating new operational challenges for hotels around the world. And Japan has transformed a former prison into one of its most unique luxury hotels. Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko explore what these stories reveal about the future of hotel ownership, climate adaptation, and heritage tourism. Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social X: https://twitter.com/skift Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry. 00:00 Franchise Relief Moment 03:31 Marriott Rebate Program 06:11 Performance Linked Bonuses 09:16 Never Cut Core Fees 11:37 Unbundling Franchise Services 14:33 Europe Air Conditioning Crunch 20:24 Sargassum Seaweed Crisis 24:13 Travel Squeeze Reality 25:35 Heritage Hotels Explained 26:56 Ghosts And Horror Debate 28:07 Prison Hotel Luxury 31:04 Raffles OWO Spy Bar 34:14 Preserving Stories For Profit 38:20 Winners And Losers 39:15 Space Conferences Boom 41:18 Conference Season Wrap 41:41 Episode Farewell
About The Skift Travel Podcast
Get the latest from the most-trusted travel industry news source. Skift sits down with creatives, executives, and entrepreneurs from across travel to discuss their insights and perspectives on the hows and whys of travelers’ habits, industry patterns, and the seismic changes happening across the industry. Listen for exclusive conversations with travel leaders and Skift's own in-house editors and analysts. Read the latest news every day at skift.com/news.
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