The Great (Hotel) Unbranding

Hotel franchise deals aren't the sure thing they once were.

GOOD DAY, READERS.

For decades, flying a big hotel brand's flag was simply what hotel owners did. The brand controlled distribution, technology, and financing, and promised to keep a competitor from opening down the road. But that bargain is starting to come undone — and a generation of owners is about to find out just how much.

In part 3 of Skift's series Disenfranchised, Editor-in-Chief Sarah Kopit follows the ones who read the fine print, did the audit, and decided the flag wasn't worth the price. Read the full investigation.

Skift IDEA Awards

The flag is no longer the only proof your work is good. Skift's IDEA Awards recognize the operators, properties, and teams defining the industry on the strength of what they built, not whose name is over the door.

Judged by leaders from Hilton, IHG, Accor, Carnival, and Google, across 30+ categories including Short-Term Rentals. Entries close Wednesday.

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DON’T MISS THESE STORIES

Going it Alone: Why Hotel Owners Are Dropping The Big Brands

By Sarah Kopit

Franchise agreements, like casinos, tend to favor the house. Now, as a generation of hotel contracts begin to expire, some owners are deciding to walk away from the table.

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California Poaches NYC’s Tourism Chief Ahead of 2028 Olympics

By Bailey Schulz

Julie Coker is leaving NYC Tourism after less than two years. She needs to turn around sluggish inbound tourism and needs to move fast: Los Angeles is hosting the 2028 Olympic Games.

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Fewer Flights, Higher Fares, More Travelers: The July 4 Squeeze

By Meghna Maharishi

Going into what is expected to be a busy July 4 travel season, airlines are cutting capacity as they hope to hold onto their pricing gains.

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Does AI Know Your Hotel Exists?

MILESTONE INC. + SKIFT

At Skift's Data + AI Summit, Milestone Inc. CEO Anil Aggarwal shared why most hotels are losing AI search visibility before their content is ever evaluated.

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MORNING HEADLINES

India’s Next Hotel Boom Is Being Built by Companies That Don’t Run Hotels

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Delta Makes Moves to Catch Up With United in the Pacific

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One of the Largest Cash Piles in OTA Travel Sits … Largely Stuck

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Dubai’s Rove Hotels Targets Saudi Arabia’s Mid-Scale Gap Before the Events Crunch Hits

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SKIFT PODCAST NETWORK

RevPAR Up 133% at the World Cup but Occupancy Is Actually Down

One week into the World Cup, and the hotel data is telling a complicated story. RevPAR in host markets is up anywhere from 24% to 133% on match days, but nine out of sixteen US host markets saw occupancy actually decline.

In this clip from Good Morning Hospitality Hotels Edition, Sarah Dandashy and Steve Turk break down why hotels are making more money by charging more rather than filling more rooms, what the booking window actually looks like for fans, and what a $1,300 CitizenM room in San Francisco says about how wild the pricing swings have been.

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SKIFT TRAVEL 200

How are public travel companies performing around the world? The Skift Travel 200 pulls the data you need to understand global market movements. Paid subscribers get full access here.

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