Is this you? As a journalist, you can create a free Muck Rack account to customize your profile, list your contact preferences, and upload a portfolio of your best work.
Claim your profile
Articles by Andrew Sheivachman
Travel Megatrends 2020: Data's Breakthrough for Events
We recently released our annual travel industry trends forecast, Skift Megatrends 2020. Download a copy of our magazine here and look for us to highlight individual trends in the coming days. On a fundamental level, the main role of event planners is to simply throw fantastic events. For decades, this has attracted people with strong management skills, often with experience in hospitality or entertainment. An affinity for tech and data, however, was never a key part of the job.
Travel Brands, Remember Who You Really Serve - The Traveling Public
With the travel industry and global economy buckling under the uncertainty of the coronavirus, it has become clear that leaders across travel failed in not only mitigating the scale of the crisis but have no idea how to engage effectively with their customers. Aggressive marketing tactics employed by the travel industry confuse and alienate consumers, limiting customer loyalty in the process.
Coronavirus Panic Outlines Limits of Most Travel Insurance
Millions of travelers around the world are facing the difficult decision of whether to cancel upcoming trips because of the coronavirus outbreak. Those who booked a trip with travel insurance could be feeling smart about their decision. The reality, however, is that the viral epidemic has been a known quantity for many weeks now, and travel insurers have been categorizing it as a “foreseen” event and a “known risk” and therefore not covered unless the ticket was booked by a specific date.
Will the U.S. Travel Sector Get a Trump Bailout?
With the U.S. travel industry in full collapse, industry groups flocked to Capitol Hill this week with the hopes of spurring the government to provide assistance and help restore consumer confidence in travel. A coalition of more than 150 travel groups released a statement on Tuesday encouraging travelers to look at information from public health officials instead of giving into the fear surrounding the coronavirus.
TravelPerk Launches Green Product for Corporate Travel
The world may be melting down, but corporate travel is still chugging along. TripActions last week announced a new virtual payments product, and this week TravelPerk is in the game with a new sustainability offering. TravelPerk released a product allowing clients to offset their carbon output through United Nations-approved projects for around $30 on average each trip.
TravelPerk Builds Audited Carbon Offset Program for Biz Travel
Business travel has a sustainability problem. As companies become more focused on their carbon footprints and environmental impact, pollution from travel has come into focus as an area ready for improvement. While more travel management companies are providing tools to track carbon output, few are integrating the means to create sustainable outcomes.
New Mexico Drilling Plan Calls for Native American Cultural Preservation
The preservation and protection of Native American cultural sites would be a priority of U.S. land managers under one of the options up for consideration as they work to amend an outdated guide for management of oil and gas drilling across a sprawling area of northwestern New Mexico. The area is home to Chaco Culture National Historical Park, which has become the focal point in a decades-long fight over oil and gas.
Luxembourg Leads in Congestion Fight With Free Public Transportation
Luxembourg is to become the first country to offer a free public transport system, as the government tries to reduce particularly dense car traffic. Some cities have taken similar partial measures but the transport ministry said it was the only time such a decision had encompassed an entire country. Public transport will be free from Saturday in a move that will affect approximately 40 percent of households and save each one about €100 per year.
TripActions Breaks Into Financial Technology
Watch out, TripActions is at it again. The corporate travel management company has launched a new payments product using virtual cards to make life easier for both business travelers and accountants. It will be interesting to see if TripActions Liquid catches on, especially with its smaller clients that may want to retain their usual policy of forcing employees to pay for their own travel upfront (it’s just smart business, really).
Marriott Is Already Reopening China Hotels During Coronavirus Crisis
Marriott Is Already Reopening China Hotels During Coronavirus Crisis As Marriott International goes, so goes the global hotel industry. The sector’s largest player has had its China operation annihilated by the coronavirus crisis, but is already seeing positive signs of a return to normal. So much so that the chain has started to open hotels that had been closed in China, executives said. They didn’t say where, or specify how many.
Marriott Is Already Reopening China Hotels During Coronavirus Crisis
As Marriott International goes, so goes the global hotel industry. The sector’s largest player has had its China operation annihilated by the coronavirus crisis, but is already seeing positive signs of a return to normal. So much so that the chain has started to open hotels that had been closed in China, executives said. They didn’t say where, or specify how many.
Cultural Experiences Add Competitive Edge to Co-Working: CEO Interview
In their race to conquer the global market for co-working, companies like WeWork have expanded around the world while offering a limited set of services to tenants. They are also under financial pressure as a result of offering generic spaces without much differentiation or custom programming. NeueHouse, though, has taken a different approach to growth as it opens just its third location in Los Angeles’ iconic Bradbury Building. NeueHouse CEO Josh Wyatt.
TripActions Launches Virtual Card Product for Corporate Travelers
As the global battle for the lower end of the corporate travel management market rages on, top players are beginning to move beyond travel itself into solving problems above just booking and servicing. TripActions has been steadily growing its travel management platform and now boasts a global workforce of more than 1,000 as it moves into markets around the world.
Canary Islands Hotel Quarantines 1,000 Guests Amid Coronavirus Fears
A thousand guests and staff at a hotel in Tenerife have been quarantined after an Italian man tested positive for the coronavirus. News of the quarantine came as the Austrian state of Tyrol, which borders Italy, confirmed its first two cases of the virus and Croatia confirmed its first case in a patient in a hospital in the capital, Zagreb.
Why Do U.S. Politicians Completely Ignore the Travel Industry in Election Season?
As U.S. politicians stump on the campaign trail in anticipation of upcoming elections, they’re rarely discussing issues related to the travel industry. Silicon Valley, autos, health care, and Wall Street are all part of the political debate and policy pitches. Travel, however, is glaringly absent from the dialogue. This gap is something that Skift has been writing and talking about since our launch eight years ago.
Warm Weather Forces Ski Resorts to Plot Snowless Future
This year’s winter in France has, so far, been the mildest in more than a century, and that has had a direct impact on the ski resort of Le Mourtis, in the Pyrenees mountains. “There’s no snow,” said French holidaymaker Frederic Foltran, setting off for the piste this week not with his skis but with a two-wheeled scooter designed for whizzing down grassy pastures.
Behind the Travel Buyer's Search for Simplicity
Corporate travel is complicated and so is the quest for travel buyers to make things simpler. Organizational goals don’t usually align with streamlining corporate travel systems, according to new research from ACTE and HRS. While travel management companies can help simplify things, it seems like hotel chains and airlines aren’t the strongest partners when it comes to cleaning things up behind the scenes. Check out the story below. Behold, it’s hotel earnings season.
Corp Travel Buyers Have a Hard Time Keeping Programs Simple
Building a corporate travel program entails building a variety of partnerships with both travel and technology companies. It should come as no surprise that reducing complexity is a priority for travel buyers, even if their companies don’t look at things the same way. New research, however, finds that it’s not just internal priorities that are preventing simpler travel programs from taking shape.
Travel Megatrends 2020: Consumer Brands Jump Into Hospitality Mashups
Skift Take Consumer brands that see the passion of travelers are taking a leap. These brands are becoming hotel proprietors in greater numbers to reach out to millennials, who see travel as a lifestyle experience. Expect more retailers to invade the hospitality space. Nancy Trejos, Skift Consumer companies in categories such as luxury goods, clothing, and even fast food are repositioning themselves as lifestyle brands with a growing presence in the travel industry.
Turboprop Competition Heats Up in Developing Asia
Competition is cranking up in the world of turboprops. For years turboprops were an ignored corner of the aircraft industry, accounting for about 120 aircraft a year compared with the more than 1,000 jets made by giants Airbus and Boeing. But growing rivalries in the turboprop business cut through a Singapore Airshow depleted by coronavirus this week.
Group Tours Banned From Amsterdam Red-Light District Windows
The local government in Amsterdam has banned guided tours that take groups past the famed windows in the city’s red-light district where visitors watch semi-naked sex workers pose. The move announced Thursday is the city government’s latest attempt to address over-tourism and to clean up and to protect workers the Dutch capital’s red-light district, which is a magnet for rowdy visitors.
What Sabre's Antitrust Trial Says About the Future of Distribution
Big-time drama in corporate travel! This week we have a missive from Senior Travel Tech Editor Sean O’Neill, who headed down to scenic Delaware to enjoy the closing arguments in the U.S. Department of Justice’s lawsuit aimed at Sabre’s pending merger with Farelogix. The DOJ argued that the move would reduce competition in the space, since GDS bypass services from Farelogix pose a competitive threat to traditional global distribution systems.
SAS Relaunches Ad After Airline Criticized By Far-Right Politicians and Nationalists
The Scandinavian airline SAS has “clarified” an advertisement intended to highlight the role of travel, immigration and cultural diversity in forging the region’s identity after it was pilloried online by far-right and nationalist groups. The airline, the flag carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, initially withdrew the commercial less than 24 hours after it was released saying the pattern and volume of reactions on social media suggested the campaign had been “subject to an attack”.
SeaWorld Settles Lawsuit After Misleading Investors Following Blackfish Fiasco
SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. on Tuesday agreed to pay $65 million to settle a lawsuit in which the theme park company was accused of misleading investors over the impact the documentary “Blackfish” was having on its bottom line. SeaWorld did not admit to any wrongdoing under the terms of the settlement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said it would pay for the settlement using about $45.5 million in insurance proceeds and $19.5 million in cash.
Tokyo Officials Backtrack on Olympic Cancellation Fears
Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic organizers again tried on Thursday to allay fears that the 2020 Games could be postponed or canceled by the fast-spreading virus from China. Tokyo Olympic CEO Toshiro Muto, who on Wednesday said he was “seriously worried” the virus could disrupt the Olympic and Paralympics, backtracked a day later and was more cautious in a news conference with officials from the International Paralympic Committee.
Self-Driving Cars Rise Alongside Flight Shaming
As sustainability becomes a more important factor for companies sending employees around the world, new solutions are needed to reduce the impact of flights on the environment. This week we take a look at some of the innovations, particularly self-driving vehicles, that will impact the sector in coming years. Check out the story below. We also have the latest on Amadeus’ fascinating technology acquisition and a look at how consolidation among U.S. travel agencies is shaping up.
Coronavirus Impact Mounts on Meetings Sector
While the spread of the coronavirus has had serious consequences for travel across Asia, it also deeply affects the meetings sector as planners and organizations have to make smart decisions about future events. We have an insightful look this week from Skift’s EventMB editor Julius Solaris into the potential ramifications of the coronavirus crisis on the global meetings and events sector.
Hate-Selling in the Age of Google Travel
It may be a new decade, but hate-selling by the travel industry remains a consistent problem for travelers. In 2015, Skift coined the term hate-selling to denote the anti-consumer techniques deployed by online booking sites to place pressure on users to spend money.
Sabre, Travelport Make Big Moves in Travel Tech Sector
It’s been an abnormally busy week in corporate travel. First, Travelport has finally sold off its payments division to Wex. The move had been expected as soon as Travelport was brought private once again and gives the company a larger war chest as it looks to gain ground on Sabre and Amadeus. Second, the court battle over Sabre’s attempted purchase of Farelogix is in full gear. While the outcome of the case is uncertain, Sabre has industry experts on its side.
Event Planners Move Toward Green Ways: Eventbrite Report
Improving sustainability has become a major challenge across the travel industry, and planners are taking more steps to ensure their events are creating less waste. New research from Eventbrite shows a surge in awareness on sustainability issues from event planners, along with the specific steps they are taking to deal with them. Check out the story below.
How Event Planners Are Finally Embracing Green Practices: New Report
As sustainability has taken on a new importance in the global meetings and events sector, planners have struggled to make the right decisions to reduce their events’ impact on the environment. Evidence shows, however, that planners are beginning to make the hard choices to improve their events despite the increased costs that often come with them. A new report from event ticketing and marketing platform Eventbrite shows that planners are more concerned with sustainability than ever before.
New Regulations May Limit Emotional Support Animals on Flights
The days of passengers bringing their pets on airplanes as emotional-support animals could be ending. The U.S. Department of Transportation on Wednesday proposed that only specially trained dogs qualify as service animals, which must be allowed in the cabin at no charge. Airlines could ban emotional-support animals including untrained dogs, cats, and more exotic companions such as pigs, pheasants, rabbits, and snakes.
New Efforts to Bridge the Flight Booking Gap
Airlines and travel management companies have a communication problem and Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC) is here to help. ARC has acquired a controlling stake in NuTravel, a technology company working to bridge the gap between consumer flight booking tools and the corporate travel ecosystem. As it builds out its omnichannel strategy, ARC has made a serious investment in moving beyond corporate travel orthodoxy with NuTravel joining Blockskye and Traxo in the ARC family.
Airline-Owned ARC Buys NuTravel to Connect Airlines With Travel Management Companies
For all the talk of digital distribution empowering business travelers, a surfeit of choice has created fresh problems for both airlines and travel agencies. Complex back-of-the-house systems limit the communication between carriers and travel agencies at a time when flyers are encouraged to book directly for perks and access to ancillaries. Increased cooperation and transparency, it follows, will directly benefit both sides of the equation.
Instant Booking for Simple Meetings Goes Mainstream
As instant booking grows in the meetings and events space, winners and losers are quietly emerging. New data from Meetingsbooker.com show hotels may be losing share to alternative venues and co-working spaces. More bookings, as well, are taking place to secure a venue for a matter of hours. It makes sense; most meetings are short and sweet. Yet as more hotels make their event space bookable online, instant booking will move more firmly into the mainstream. Check out the full story below.
United Powers Through the 737 Max Waiting Game With Strong Earnings
United Powers Through the 737 Max Waiting Game With Strong Earnings While United Airlines posted strong fourth quarter 2019 earnings, the result of solid international business and reduced costs, the Boeing 737 Max debacle is still expected to represent a problem going forward. Fourth quarter net profit totaled $641 million, an increase of 55 percent year-over-year, while revenue rose 3.8 percent year-over-year to $10.89 billion.
Are Hotels Missing Out as Instant Booking for Meetings Grows?
Emerging platforms that allow the instant booking of meeting space are growing and hotel chains are finally buying into a future where time-intensive requests for proposals are no longer necessary for many events. At the same time, though, co-working spaces are taking advantage of these digital platforms to expand their market share in the meetings world.
United Powers Through the 737 Max Waiting Game With Strong Earnings
While United Airlines posted strong fourth quarter 2019 earnings, the result of solid international business and reduced costs, the Boeing 737 Max debacle is still expected to represent a problem going forward. Fourth quarter net profit totaled $641 million, an increase of 55 percent year-over-year, while revenue rose 3.8 percent year-over-year to $10.89 billion. The airline’s Latin American business grew 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter, boosted by strong demand in Mexico and Brazil.
Trump Travel Ban Expands to New Countries: Report
The Trump administration is slated to restrict travel from seven more countries in Africa and Asia in the coming days, according to media reports. The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. plans to limit visa access for visitors from Belarus, Eritrea, Kyrgyzstan, Myanmar, Nigeria, Sudan, and Tanzania. While the draft of restrictions hasn’t been finalized, it is likely limitations will be placed on the types of visas individual travelers can receive.
Travel Megatrends 2020: The Future of Travel Will Be Driven by Urban Living Innovations
We recently released our annual travel industry trends forecast, Skift Megatrends 2020. Download a copy of our magazine here and look for us to highlight individual trends in the coming days. This Megatrend is brought to you in partnership with Accor.
Southwest Becomes Latest U.S. Airline to Delay Boeing 737 Max Return
Southwest Airlines said Thursday it has taken the grounded Boeing 737 Max out of its schedule until early June and is dropping more than 8 percent of its planned flights as a result. With the moves, Southwest joined rivals in acknowledging that the plane won’t be ready before the start of the peak summer travel season. Southwest said that without the planes, it will drop about 330 flights each weekday from its normal schedule of about 4,000 daily flights.
Expense Technology Landscape Heats Up
What’s in a name? The expense technology providers snapped up over the years by K1 Investment Management, including Chrome River and Certify, will now operate as part of a stand-alone company named Emburse. CEO Eric Friedrichsen told Skift the company wants to build off its six existing brands, sharing technology and growing its market share. Is there anybody out there who doesn’t want to take down SAP Concur right now? It’s corporate travel enemy numero uno.
The Future of Mobility in Corp Travel Brings a Messy Chase for Scale
Much has been made over the last few years of the growth of Uber, Lyft, and other new mobility platforms in corporate travel. Yet fragmentation in the ground transportation space, along with the power of consumer habits bleeding over into the business travel world, has limited the role of ridesharing and scooters in corporate travel policies. A die-hard Lyft user, for instance, is unlikely to use Uber just because they are told to.
What You Need to Know About Events in China in the Next 5 Years
China is the world’s most rapidly growing market for business travel, and the country’s infrastructure for event professionals is in the middle of a major period of development. This week we take a look at a new report detailing China’s growth as an events market and the ways new technologies will help push the sector forward. We also have the rundown from last week’s PCMA conference in San Francisco, with EventMB Editor Julius Solaris breaking down all the trends you need to know.
A Quiet Giant in Expense Technology Has New Name and Mission
Expense and travel management has quietly become one of the most competitive areas of corporate travel, with upstarts and established players moving to compete against the strongest companies in the space. Just last week, for instance, Coupa acquired air and hotel pricing intelligence firm Yapta to likely gain more customers in the travel buyer space.
How Global Event Planners Need to Think About China's Secondary Cities
Asia is quickly becoming a powerhouse in the global events sector, with China accounting for much of the growth. As a destination in transition, however, certain cities and regions stand to gain the most events business due to more developed infrastructure for hosting large meetings and conferences. A new report from TUI-owned Pacific World outlines the growth of China’s event sector and the trends that are determining its path forward.
Travel Megatrends 2020: Subscription Travel Is the Next Frontier of Loyalty
The travel industry tends to view its products as a must-have for consumers. This mindset has led the sector to lag behind the entertainment and e-commerce world when it comes to building lasting relationships with digital-first consumers. Travel competes, both as a consumer good and an entertainment product, with services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Facebook.
Ocean City, Maryland, Shows Marketing Chutzpah in Appeal to Harry and Meghan
Maryland’s Ocean City has playfully invited Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan to vacation there after the couple said they would step back from royal duties.
An Expanded Trump Travel Ban May Be Coming Soon
The White House is considering expanding its much-litigated travel ban to additional countries amid a renewed election-year focus on immigration issues by President Donald Trump, according to four people familiar with the deliberations. A document outlining the plans has been circulating the White House, but the countries that would be affected are blacked out, according to two of the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the measure has yet to be finalized.
Another Tech Company Goes After Concur
It’s a new decade, and you know what that means: even more consolidation in corporate travel. Coupa has acquired Yapta, an engine for air and hotel cost intelligence, as it gears up to compete against SAP Concur. Business travel management has moved into the cloud, and more players are gaming to unseat incumbents at the top of the market. It will take an untraditional approach to get it done, writes Skift Travel Tech Editor Sean O’Neill.
Show More
loading
Actions
Get in touch with Andrew
Contact Andrew, search articles and posts on X, monitor coverage, and track replies from one place.
Learn more about Muck Rack