05 Feb
Travel

Major Travel Agencies Are on a Consolidation and Expansion Fast Track

Avoya Travel

The Atrium Cafe in Avoya Travel’s new innovation center. Avoya Travel added about 500 travel advisors in 2019. Avoya Travel

Skift Take: Travel agencies are poised for expansion, but the major challenge is finding travel advisors to fill new positions. Acquiring agencies and enticing newcomers to join the industry are ways around it.

— Maria Lenhart

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05 Feb
Travel

‘Skip-Gen’ Travel Takes Off as Grandparents Seek to Bond With Grandkids

Road Scholar / Road Scholar

Grandparents and grandchildren enjoy rafting on a trip with Road Scholar in the Ozark Mountains of the United States. Road Scholar / Road Scholar

Skift Take: More grandparents are viewing traveling with grandkids as a way to get some much-needed bonding time. This skip-gen trend is creating an important market for travel advisors, but there are things to know in order to handle it right.

— Maria Lenhart

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05 Feb
Travel

Travel Advisors See Changing Cruiser Preferences for Peak Booking ‘Wave Season’

David Avila / Hurtigruten Cruises

Expedition cruises such as this one on Hurtigruten Cruises’ MS Road Amundsen in the Antarctic are popular among travelers during this year’s wave season. David Avila / Hurtigruten Cruises

Skift Take: Travel advisors say this year’s “wave season” is showing strong preferences for less-visited ports and immersive land experiences. There are also indicators that passengers are more likely to hold the cruise industry accountable on sustainability.

— Maria Lenhart

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05 Feb
Travel

‘Wave Season’ 2020 Brings More Questions From Cruisers on Environment

Dietmar Denger / Hurtigruten Cruises

Hurtigruten Cruises’ MS Fram in Cozumel Harbor, Mexico. Cruisers are choosing off-the-beaten-path destinations. Dietmar Denger / Hurtigruten Cruises

Skift Take: This year’s wave season isn’t business as usual for travel advisors. Cruisers are showing a preference for remote destinations, and they are tracking cruise lines’ sustainability records like never before.

— Maria Lenhart

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05 Feb
Travel

The Story of Oyo’s Troubles Is the Story of Modern India

Oyo Hotels & Homes

An Oyo hotel property in Gurgaon, India. Oyo Hotels & Homes

Skift Take: What’s happening with Oyo cannot be looked at separately from the modern Indian milieu that gave birth to it, and in which it operates. Oyo now needs to rise above that legacy and bring in the global business practices that ensure it survives and thrives in the future.

— Rafat Ali

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05 Feb
Travel

‘Skip-Gen’ Vacations Are a New Family Travel Offshoot for Travel Advisors

Austin Adventures

Grandparents are increasingly planning vacation with their grandkids. This gives them time to bond while the childrens’ parents stay home. Austin Adventures clients traveling through Alaska’s Kenai Fjords National Park. Austin Adventures

Skift Take: “Skip-gen” travel involving grandparents and grandchildren is an important market for travel advisors to pay attention to. Not only are grandparents more active these days, many see travel as a rare bonding opportunity with grandchildren.

— Maria Lenhart

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05 Feb
Travel

Design Trend: Hotel Lobby as Local-Inspired Living Room

Ennismore / The Hoxton via Associated Press

Many designers are now looking to the cities and neighborhoods where hotels are located for decorating inspiration. Shown here is the lobby in The Hoxton in Portland, Ore. Alongside newly built rooms, public areas were situated in an old converted movie theater. Ennismore / The Hoxton via Associated Press

Skift Take: Designers aim to make hotels into homey work spaces for business travelers, but if every hospitality space is an office, how do you take a vacation?

— Sarah Enelow-Snyder

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05 Feb
Travel

Hotels Navigate Hazy World of Legal Marijuana and 8 Other Top Hospitality Stories This Week

Victor Moussa / Adobe

Hotels struggle to to balance liberal state marijuana laws with federal law which classifies marijuana as a Schedule ! drug. Victor Moussa / Adobe

Skift Take: In hospitality news this week, hotels are finding it confusing to straddle state and federal laws when it comes to marijuana. Is legal pot a liability or opportunity? Plus, fast-rising Oyo Hotels & Homes has slammed on the brakes in the U.S., laying off a third of its team and switching up its strategy.

— Danielle Hyams

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05 Feb
Travel

Oyo’s Global Downsizing Hits U.S. as One-Third of Staff Is Fired in Biz Model Shift

Skift

An Oyo hotel in the U.S. Skift

Skift Take: If the cliché “no pain, no gain” applies to disruptor Oyo, then the chain is clearly in the pain part of that equation. The brand has definitely taken a huge reputational hit that will play out for months. There are certainly positives in Oyo’s renewed value proposition to many properties if the chain doesn’t trip over itself.

— Dennis Schaal

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