SCOOP: Airbnb's Car Rental Deal

Airbnb is taking another step to become a full-fledged OTA.

GOOD DAY, READERS.

Airbnb is offering car rentals for the first time, teaming up with Ireland-based CarTrawler to go live in the U.S., France, Italy, Spain, and Australia, Executive Editor Dennis Schaal scoops. Bookings through partners such as Avis, Hertz, Budget, and Enterprise via CarTrawler can earn customers up to 20% (capped at $200) in Airbnb credits toward stays, experiences, and select services.

It's Airbnb's latest step toward becoming a traditional OTA — the company recently introduced scheduled pickups to and from major transit hubs such as airports and railway stations. There's a twist: CarTrawler is poised to become an Expedia brand, which will compete with Airbnb on car rentals.

Skift Global Forum

As Airbnb races to become a full OTA, the rivals setting the terms of that race take the stage in New York.

The CEOs of Booking Holdings and Expedia headline three days on who controls travel's new booking interface.

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Airbnb Partners With CarTrawler for Car Rentals in 5 Countries: Scoop

By Dennis Schaal

Airbnb's partnership with CarTrawler on car rentals is Airbnb's latest step toward becoming a traditional online travel agency. CarTrawler is poised to become an Expedia brand, which will compete with Airbnb on car rentals.

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Ari Emanuel Is Assembling a Live Tourism Conglomerate

By Rafat Ali

The companies that originate trips do not need to call themselves travel companies to capture travel's economics, and Ari Emanuel is demonstrating it across three of them.

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The Travel Industry Was Banking on a World Cup Windfall. Here’s What the Numbers Show.

By Bailey Schulz

The World Cup delivered real, rate-driven gains for hotels and short-term rentals. But the impact was barely noticed by U.S. airlines, and the international visitor boom is falling short of expectations.

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Inside JetBlue’s New Financing Play

CLARITYPAY + SKIFT

On Airline Weekly Lounge, ClarityPay CEO Houman Motaharian explains how its JetBlue partnership could turn financing into a loyalty engine. Watch the interview here or wherever you get your podcast at the link below.

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MORNING HEADLINES

Europe May Finally Charge International Flights for Emissions — U.S. and China Get a Pass

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The World Cup Travel Matrix

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Allegiant, Long an OTA Holdout, Signs an Exclusive Deal With Expedia

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Delta Adds LAX-Manila Route as the Battle for West Coast and Asia Heats Up

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SKIFT PODCAST NETWORK

Accor & H World Are Linking 430M Loyalty Members

Accor and China's H World are linking their loyalty programs and distribution across 19,000 hotels and 430 million combined members.

In this clip from Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast: Hotels Edition, Sarah Dandashy and Steve Turk break down why this is bigger than a loyalty play, how cutting OTA commissions from 15% down to 4 or 5% goes straight to the bottom line, and why H World's 310 million members needed Accor's brand recognition as much as Accor needed H World's scale.

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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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