Ryanair Doesn't Want Help
Good morning, readers. We may be 259 days away from international talk like a pirate day (that's a real thing people, and it's on Sept. 19), but there's no specific day for talking about pirates. So we're doing that today with a look at Ryanair and what they're calling pirates. We also have one analyst's take on hotels in 2024 and a look at trends in adventure travel. On the itinerary:
Ryanair discusses "OTA pirates"
What's in store for hotels in '24
Adventure travel trends to watch
Don't Miss the Megatrends
Megatrends, our annual forecast of the top travel industry trends, is back for another highly anticipated program next week in New York City, London, or online.
Here's what you should do so you don't miss out:
Ryanair Battles OTA "Pirates"
Ryanair is still battling “OTA Pirates,” despite declaring a victory of sorts on Wednesday. Europe’s largest airline said that most OTA offenders – who the carrier says allegedly steal proprietary information and intellectual property by posting its flight details – abruptly stopped selling its flights in early December.
But at least one of them — Booking.com — was back offering Ryanair’s flights as of Wednesday, Skift discovered.
Ryanair stated that Booking.com, sister company Kayak, and Kiwi were among the major OTAs that took Ryanair flights off their websites in early December. The carrier said the move would lead to load factors decreasing by 1% to 2% in December and January but said it doesn’t expect the loss of these bookings to materially impact its 2024 traffic or guidance.
The decision by some online travel agencies to stop selling Ryanair flights followed an Irish High Court decision in early December granting the airline a permanent injunction against a screen-scraper from accessing the airline’s flight and fare information without permission.
Online travel agencies don’t have permission to grab Ryanair’s flight information and they likely obtain it via screen-scraping or through another online travel agency. The OTAs counter Ryanair’s “pirate” label by saying they are trying to give their customers a comprehensive view of available flights, and it is anti-consumer for Ryanair to withhold the flight information.
Skift examined a number of online travel company websites on Wednesday, searching for Ryanair flights from London to Barcelona. Of the three online travel companies that Ryanair cited as ceasing to sell its flights in early December, Skift found that:
Booking.com was back selling those flights via a link to another online travel agency, Fareportal-owned OneTravel.com. Booking might argue it is not using a screen-scraper to obtain Ryanair’s flights but is accessing them through OneTravel.com.
Kayak, which doesn’t sell flights but sends travelers to other websites for bookings, was linking off to Ryanair.com.
Kiwi wasn’t selling the airline’s flights.
Another major European flight-seller, eDreams Odigeo, was indeed still selling Ryanair flights on Wednesday, as was Opodo.
Supercharging Digital Transformation for Travel Agencies and Professionals
For travel agencies to navigate the next evolution of business-to-business travel booking, they need a forward-thinking technology partner that knows how to balance digital innovation with human expertise — especially in an industry known for its resistance to change.
One Analyst's Outlook for Hotels
A new year brings new predictions from industry insiders. This time we’re hearing from Jefferies analyst David Katz, who dropped his view on the 2024 prospects for Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt in a 5,000-word report earlier this week. You don’t have to read all those words, we’ve got the highlights.
If interest rates fall (as many expect), that could favor hotel groups. Katz said a critical question is “whether revenue per available room growth can continue to exceed cost inflation, notably driven by labor, utilities, and other services.” The answer is hard to predict.
Katz is cautiously forecasting modest growth in room rates in 2024, with overall average occupancy rates to edge back to pre-pandemic levels by 2025.
Katz argued that the travel lodging industry’s fundamentals are mixed. On the positive side, demand for corporate events and other large groups appears set to remain a growth driver. On the negative side, business travel is recovering more gradually than many expected, with large corporations likely to still lag behind 2019 levels this year.
Marriott has a “strong growth outlook” in 2024, Katz said, referring to revenue and earnings. The company’s management has guided investors to expect a two-year compound annual growth rate of revenue per available room in the range of 3% to 6% for 2024 to 2025 and a similar rate for its hotel development of at least 5% through 2025.
Hilton’s introduction of a few brands in recent years is a leading driver of growth. The company is also getting better at boosting sales of products beyond traditional hotel stays, such as upgrades and spa services, which is also setting up the company for growth.
Hyatt has a few question marks. How will its all-inclusive resorts perform this year as consumers spend down the savings they built up during the pandemic? Will Hyatt be able to sell some of its assets? And will group corporate and association events keep booking out its venues?
Trends in Adventure Travel for 2024
What can we expect in the world of adventure travel tours in 2024? If you’ve been asking yourself that very question then you’re in the right place. Selene Brophy spoke to leading players in the space and got some answers on just what those trends will be. Seven to be exact. Here’s a sample:
More Shoulder Season Demand: September and October, the Northern Hemisphere’s traditional shoulder season, became the most popular months for adventure travel in 2023. Expect that trend to continue this year.
Private Group Tours: Backroads founder and CEO Tom Hale said the company was seeing a rise in popularity for private active adventure group travel during the shoulder season.
Electric Bikes: The use of electric-assist bikes is expected to grow in popularity this year. Backroads saw a 43% year-over-year increase between 2019 and 2023 in what it called its Dolce Tempo Easy going Active Tours, which features electric and hybrid bikes. These tours in the Netherlands and Belgium, and in Italy’s Puglia and Tuscany regions, have been the most popular.
Traditional Safaris Become More Active: Combining wildlife spotting with activities like snorkeling, scuba diving, sailing, cycling, and trail running is a growing active adventure trend, according to Southern Africa tour operator Where It All Began.
Boats as a Base: Guests will continue to look to the convenience of unpacking once with small river or ocean boats as their base for multi-adventure itineraries. World Explorers Travel Group described this as a center-based adventure trend: “Boat-based explorations will cover more ground, and you wake up to a new view each day.”
More From Skift
UK Tax Office Seeks More Information From Airbnb ‘Side Hustles’
IDEAS: Four Seasons Introduces In-Room Shopping Experience at New York City Hotel
India Registers 22% Jump in Licenses For Women Pilots: India Report
Skift Travel 200: Top Movers
Yesterday it was cruise operators that took a dive, today it's car rental companies. Hertz led the way with a 5.5% decline, while Avis Budget wasn't far behind with a 4.9% drop.
Source: The Skift Travel 200 (ST200) combines the financial performance of nearly 200 travel companies worth more than a trillion dollars into a single number. Go to the Skift Travel 200. Stock data as of market close.