How experiences will drive trip planning in 3 charts
The broad consumer shift toward experiences has been well known and well documented over the past half-decade.
In the most recent research from Arival and Phocuswright, a forthcoming consumer study of more than 8,000 travelers worldwide, 58% of Gen Z and millennial travelers say they are prioriti [...]
Will Asia be the breakout region for Tours & Activities?
As the Arival team prepared for our launch event in Asia Pacific to serve creators and sellers of tours, activities and attractions, we heard one refrain again and again from industry insiders: Asia is behind. Tour and activity operators are resistant to new technology. Attractions are hesitant to [...]
Building an activities OTA is not easy – even for Booking.com
Last week saw back-to-back acquisitions of two leading reservation systems in the tours and activities sector – FareHarbor in the U.S. by Booking Holdings (formerly Priceline Group) and Iceland's Bokun by TripAdvisor (parent of Viator and the largest online seller of tour and activities today).
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Airbnb, Booking.com and the Battle for Hearts – and Homes
It's shaping up to become one of travel's great competitive rivalries: Airbnb vs. Booking.com. One has achieved global dominance in online hotel distribution, the other in private accommodation. But as Phocuswright Research has been forecasting for several years, the silos and segments within accomm [...]
Only One Thing Will Disrupt OTAs (and It Ain’t Blockchain)
OTA bashing is about as old as OTAs themselves. It's been bountiful fodder for media hype and conference roundtable hysterics for decades. We've heard it all before, from airlines, hotels and the myriad technology companies, startups and consultants that seek to serve them: OTAs are expensive, innov [...]
My 15 Minutes of Fame (and Why Airbnb is Killing it)
In 2010, I was working on an update to our U.S. vacation rental market research, and one name kept popping up: Airbnb. I began digging in. The model was odd – people rent out their primary residences or spaces within their homes – but the product and founders were compelling. They took a very de [...]
Sleep with me: The surprising rise of renting shared space
Back in 2012 when Airbnb was starting to generate some significant momentum and buzz, our team decided to add a new lodging category to our annual U.S. Consumer Travel Report. That category was shared space, or the renting of a couch or room or within a private home or apartment.Personally, I was sk [...]
In online travel, size matters
With Expedia swallowing Travelocity, Orbitz considering a sale, eDreams Odigeo in transition and Priceline stoking fears around the world, every online travel company and hotelier must confront a rising strategic reality: It’s become a two-horse race, and the leaders are pulling ahead of the pack. [...]
What the Global Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry Must Learn from the Uber Debacle in Delhi
Douglas Quinby of Phocuswright wrote this article with inspiration from Ram BadrinathanNearly two decades ago, early in my career, I had an opportunity to work in India for a year. One of my goals while there was to learn Hindi, which is actually not an easy thing to do – not because the language [...]
Is Airbnb a Distribution or Hospitality Company? (and Why It Wants to Be a Hospitality Company)
In the latter half of 2013, Airbnb began making more direct comparisons between itself and the hotel industry. Nathan Blecharczyk, cofounder and CTO, told the Telegraph in November that he expected Airbnb to surpass InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Hilton in total number of rooms. He was righ [...]
