Skift Take
Today’s podcast looks at hotels grappling with AI, Mallorca’s continued overtourism, and Southwest’s revenue bump.
Good morning from Skift. Itâs Friday, September 27, and hereâs what you need to know about the business of travel today.
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Episode Notes
Hotel companies are trying to figure out how artificial intelligence will impact their businesses. Leaders in the industry arenât quite sure yet, reports Senior Hospitality Editor Sean OâNeill, who attended the Destination AI summit in Washington, D.C.
Jess Petitt, an executive at Hilton, said the number of hotel bookings made using generative AI is minuscule but added the technology would make a huge impact on the industry. However, some experts are skeptical about generative AI significantly changing the balance of power regarding how hotels attract customers. OâNeill writes if hotel companies donât adequately invest in the technology, theyâll be out-competed technologically.
Next, Mallorca continues to be a tourism hotspot despite recent large-scale protests against mass tourism to the island, writes Global Tourism Reporter Dawit Habtemariam.
Mallorca recorded more than 8.5 million overnight hotel stays in August, the highest of any tourist region in Spain. The island also had the highest weekend hotel occupancy at 90%. Despite widespread coverage of the protests, a recently released survey by Mallorcaâs tourism board found roughly 90% of American visitors were unaware of the anti-mass tourism demonstrations.
Finally, Southwest Airlines has raised its revenue outlook for the third quarter as it plans to make more changes to its business operations, writes Airlines Reporter Meghna Maharishi, who was in Dallas for Southwestâs âInvestor Dayâ presentations.
Southwest expects its revenue per available seat mile to increase between 2% and 3%, up from previous estimates. The company attributed the increase in part to a surge in travel demand. Meanwhile, to help boost profits, Southwest has unveiled plans to introduce premium seating and red-eye flights.
Southwest projects the seating changes will generate an additional $1.5 billion in revenue.
