The Skift Travel Podcast

Google paid $10 million for Spirit Airlines’ data. Airbnb is showing real AI-driven savings. Booking says AI still accounts for less than 1% of room nights.

Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko break down travel’s AI reckoning: what is paying off, what is still experimental, and why data, trust, and ROI now matter more than AI hype.

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00:00 Google Buys Spirit Data

01:35 AI’s Hunger for Training Data

03:13 LLM Language Quirks

05:39 From Jokes to Business Impact

05:45 Bankruptcy Data as New Brand

08:03 Why Travel Data Is Special

10:25 Seat Politics and Spotify Age

13:18 Google’s ITA Playbook

18:13 AI Usefulness in Travel Tech

20:09 Airbnb AI ROI Proof

22:17 Beyond Chatbots Debate

25:43 Revenue Upside Signals

29:23 Bookings Still Tiny

31:34 AI Trip Planning Stories

34:45 Trust Gap Chart

36:46 Who Owns Booking

38:37 GDS Plumbing Goes AI

39:43 Winners Listener Shoutouts

41:36 Closing Thanks

Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko unpack two forces reshaping travel: the creator economy’s impact on hotel brands and Skift Research’s State of Travel 2026 report.

They discuss the Aman creator controversy, why hotels need a new playbook for independent reviewers, and the new Travel Stack framework showing how consumers, commerce, operations, and experiences are changing across the industry.

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00:00 State of Travel Teaser

01:04 Inside the Report

02:22 Chart Nerd Talk

03:03 Ironing Board Hack

06:44 Aman Drama Goes Viral

08:48 Creator vs Media Explained

10:49 What Happened at Aman

14:08 Aman Responds to WSJ

16:53 Crisis Comms Lessons

21:05 Creators and Headlines

24:43 Back to State of Travel

25:05 Whimsy Meets Data

25:54 New Travel Stack Framework

28:18 Breaking Down Consumers

31:11 Favorite Charts and Trends

33:08 Booking Channels Trust Gap

35:25 Green Talkers Sustainability Gap

36:34 Psychographics Explained

43:40 Finding the Report Link

44:29 Black Toilet Seat Update

45:18 Winners Losers Eclipse Tourism

47:43 Final Goodbye and Feedback

Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt are all offering new relief to hotel owners. Climate is creating new operational challenges for hotels around the world. And Japan has transformed a former prison into one of its most unique luxury hotels.

Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko explore what these stories reveal about the future of hotel ownership, climate adaptation, and heritage tourism.

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00:00 Franchise Relief Moment

03:31 Marriott Rebate Program

06:11 Performance Linked Bonuses

09:16 Never Cut Core Fees

11:37 Unbundling Franchise Services

14:33 Europe Air Conditioning Crunch

20:24 Sargassum Seaweed Crisis

24:13 Travel Squeeze Reality

25:35 Heritage Hotels Explained

26:56 Ghosts And Horror Debate

28:07 Prison Hotel Luxury

31:04 Raffles OWO Spy Bar

34:14 Preserving Stories For Profit

38:20 Winners And Losers

39:15 Space Conferences Boom

41:18 Conference Season Wrap

41:41 Episode Farewell

Fora became travel's newest unicorn, Amazon is pushing deeper into AI travel booking, and earnings season is revealing where the industry is gaining momentum.

Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko discuss how AI is changing travel distribution and what the latest results from Hilton, JetBlue, and Royal Caribbean say about the second half of the year.

Connect with Skift

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00:00 Fora Hits Unicorn00:56 Beach Vacation Banter02:40 Why Fora Matters03:31 AI Revives Travel Agents05:26 Alexa Books Travel07:53 Does Voice Really Work10:40 Amazon Travel Déjà Vu12:40 Old Ideas Return14:39 2018 Report Flashback16:06 IHG Conversational Search19:26 No Single Front Door21:32 Google Still In Play22:41 AI vs Travel Giants24:06 Hilton Fee Cut27:50 Incentives and RevPAR28:42 JetBlue Turnaround Plan30:40 Low Cost Carrier Squeeze33:00 LaGuardia Marine Terminal35:25 Winners and Losers35:45 Royal Caribbean Fuel Hit36:47 Space Licensing and Tourism39:29 Long Term Outlook Farewell

The U.S. passport is no longer among the world's most powerful. Skift revisits its biggest travel megatrends of 2026, and The Odyssey is already driving tourism in Norway.

Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko discuss what shifting passport rankings reveal about global influence, which travel megatrends have held up through the first half of the year, and why movie tourism continues to be a powerful force for destinations.

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00:00 Passport Power Rankings

02:35 Dressing Up to Travel

03:32 Ironing Boards Crusade

05:03 Henley Index Deep Dive

07:52 Megatrends Midyear Game

10:34 Tourists Skip the US

13:13 Marketing for AI Search

14:44 Sustainability Reality Check

16:51 Mocktails Take Over

20:07 Luxury Boom Debate

21:58 Self Driving Trend Watch

23:37 Train Renaissance Tease

23:48 Train renaissance check-in

25:18 Flying taxis progress

25:56 Music tourism boom

27:50 K-beauty travel trends

29:46 OTA oligopoly cracks

31:30 Vibe coding tsunami

37:39 World Cup matrix reveal

44:30 Winners of the week

48:32 Wrap and sign-off