Skift Take

In Skift's top stories this week, Hilton unveils its new marketing tactics, Lastminute.com is under investigation, and JetBlue buys Spirit Airlines for $3.8 billion.

Throughout the week we are posting original stories night and day covering news and travel trends, including on the impact of coronavirus. Every weekend we will offer you a chance to read the most essential stories again in case you missed them earlier.

Hilton Puts Marketing Focus Back on Hotels With New Brand Platform: Hilton risked falling out of the cultural conversation as newer brands like Airbnb made a lot of noise. So the company has responded with new marketing tactics. One of them is putting hotel stays, rather than beaches or sunsets, upfront in its ads. Another tactic is to mock rentals.

Swiss Authorities Detain Lastminute.com CEO in Covid Aid Abuse Probe: With an interim CEO in place, Lastminute.com Group will have to figure out how to deal with the brand hit from the ongoing investigation.

JetBlue to Buy Spirit Airlines for $3.8 Billion: It’s taken JetBlue four attempts to buy Spirit. Now it’s crossed the line in a deal that’s worth $3.8 billion, as long as it doesn’t raise any antitrust red flags in Washington, D.C.

Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Invests in Software Firm for Hotels and Vacation Rentals: This deal undoubtedly won’t go down as one of the largest of 2022, but it shows the continued interest in investing in hospitality technology. Even Jerry Jones can recognize an interesting deal.

Japan Welcomed More Refugees From Ukraine Than Foreign Tourists Since Reopening: With just 1,500 foreign tourists arriving to take a package tour last month, it’s been a painfully slow restart for Japan after the two-year ban.

Startup Spotnana to Use $75 Million in New Funding to Continue Unraveling Business Travel’s Complexities: The company, which is backed by Concur co-founder Steve Singh, is still on its mission to quietly dismantle the underlying technology and commercial kickbacks that the corporate travel industry was built on. That costs a lot of money.

Online Travel Faces Key Questions Heading Into Earnings: They will be telling signals about where travel demand will be heading for the rest of 2022. That’s why we will be closely following Alphabet and Meta’s earnings calls this week.

Why Extended Stay Hotels Aren’t in Just a Hype Cycle: A few plausible reasons explain why many investors and brands are checking into the extended-stay hotel category. The bottom line is that they expect to leave with suitcases full of profits for a long time.

Colombia Tourism Is Poised for Transformation Under New President: A new leadership representative of Colombia’s diverse population for the first time in its history. An agenda centered on decarbonization, integrating host communities in decision making and sharing the tourism pie. And big priorities on social justice. Will Colombia become the model definition of a sustainable tourism industry?

Business Model Innovation Is the Hottest Thing in Online Travel: Innovation comes in many forms. Sometimes it’s a new technology. But for a growing number of online travel companies, it’s all about disrupting traditional business models.

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Tags: dallas cowboys, hilton, japan, jetblue airways, lastminute.com, lastminute.com group, spirit airlines, top stories

Photo credit: Hilton innovation

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