Global travel industry intelligence from Skift: News, info, data and analysis on airlines, hotels, tourism, cruises, startups, tech and more. A SpokenEdition transforms written content into human-read audio you can listen to anywhere. It's perfect for times when you can't read - while driving, at the gym, doing chores, etc. Find more at www.spokenedition.com

It took AccorHotels only 18 months to bring its hostel-like concept Jo&Joe to life. Thehospitality giant had been watching the sector, studying where it might be able to make its mark before it hit on, what it thought, was the right approach.

Throughout the week we post dozens of original stories, connecting the dots across the travel industry, and every weekend we sum it all up. This weekend roundup examines aviation. For all of our weekend roundups,go here. >>This looks like a marriage of convenience for the carriers. Both are struggling, as is the wider Icelandic tourism industry.

Disney’s most ambitious expansion in recent years hit a bit of a speed bump. During a call to discuss financial results for thefourth fiscal quarter, Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger said the company took action to offset the effects of “softness in the tourism market” at Shanghai Disney Resort.

Our first major event in 2019 will be Skift Forum Europe on April 30th in London. What started as a regional version of Skift Global Forum in 2017, has since grown into a flagship Forum in its own right. An increasing number of companies participate each year and an expanded variety of attendees traveling from around Europe and the world come to network and collaborate. We had nearly 250 companies represented at Skift Forum Europe 2018 in Berlin.

More than four years after first floating the idea, Carnival Corp. on Tuesday rolled out plans for its China-based cruise joint venture with China State Shipbuilding Corporation. The company, called CSSC Carnival Cruise Shipping Limited, will start sailing by the end of next year using a ship transferred from Costa Group, a Carnival Corp. brand. And it plans to add as many as seven more to create a multi-ship, China-focused brand.

As my opening story, I’ve been asked to write a piece laying out my strategy for covering Asia for Skift. It occurred to me that I might be in trouble. Because Asia is a huge continent to cover! It occupies a third of the world’s land area and its 4.5 billion person population is bigger than that of the other continents combined. And then there’s me, located in a tiny red dot on the world map, Singapore, covering the whole of Asia for Skift.

When passengers reach their seats on EasyJet, they may find a multi-page menu,with several food options, including a sweet chili chicken wrap, a mezze snack box, and a mini-calzone. At £4.50 per item, or almost $6 per dish, they should be money-makers. But until recently, EasyJet had a problem: It couldn’t predict what passengers would want.

The Skift Wellnessnewsletter is our weekly dispatch focused onwhat’s happening in wellness from a global business standpoint.Skift Wellness lives where wellness meets commerce, mindfulness meets technology, the yoga studio meets the boardroom, andhealth meets business.

Editor's note: This series, called Airline Insiders, introduces readers to behind-the-scenes decision-makers for airlines. Unlike our ongoing airline CEO series, Future of the Passenger Experience, we will not question the highest-ranking executives here. Instead, we will speak with insiders who guide decisions on airline operations, networks, marketing, and the passenger experience. You can read all the stories in the series here.