Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The Skift Travel Podcast
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The Skift Travel Podcast
The Skift Travel Podcast episodes
- Travel's $100 Billion Opportunity Is Being Overlooked
Baby boomers and retirees represent a $100 billion annual travel spending opportunity, but are travel companies paying enough attention?
Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko break down new Skift Research on older travelers, premium spending, and the next decade of retirement travel. They also discuss shifting transatlantic travel demand, why Canadians are choosing Europe over the U.S., and the challenges destinations face in attracting visitors beyond traditional tourism hotspots. Plus, rising airfare costs and the latest airline and hotel trends.
This episode is brought to you by ZS
Connect with Skift
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/
WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social
X: https://twitter.com/skift
Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.
00:00 Retirees Spend Big
01:21 Retirement Daydreams
02:14 Ireland Summit Recap
03:20 Spooky Ghosts Detour
06:24 AI Summit Highlights
07:46 Transatlantic Trends
08:48 Canada US Split
12:27 Overtourism Spread Out
15:04 Heritage Travel Stories
19:04 Americans Travel Smarter
22:47 Boomers Fly Business
24:03 Boomer Research Backlash
25:09 Silver Tsunami Spending Surge
27:51 Selling Past Cost Consciousness
29:30 Gen X Retirement Wave
30:55 Airplane Barf Bag Debate
33:00 Wi Fi Nostalgia Ends
34:30 Travel Pet Peeves List
35:35 Winners Losers Earnings
40:08 Fares Fuel and Competition
42:08 JetBlue Lounge Design Win
45:25 Wrap Up and Goodbye
48 min - AI Agents Are Here. Travel Isn't Ready.
Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko test whether AI agents can actually complete everyday purchases, and discover why the next battle in travel distribution may be over who can accept an agent's booking.
Fresh from Skift's Data and AI Summit Europe, Seth shares why travel companies are still struggling with agentic commerce, trust, loyalty pricing, and AI visibility. They also examine how attacks on Saudi Arabian airports threaten the kingdom's aviation ambitions and why rising airfares may finally be testing travelers' willingness to pay.
This episode is brought to you by ZS
Connect with Skift
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/
WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social
X: https://twitter.com/skift
Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.
00:00 Coffee Bet Payoff
01:53 Agentic Commerce Lessons02:25 Budget Caps And Pastry04:32 Delivery Confusion Moment05:21 Which Platform Ordered06:51 Login Blocks And Guest Checkout08:42 Travel Industry Implications11:36 When Agents Feel Exhausting13:05 Loyalty Rates And Bot Risk15:39 Agents Still Niche16:55 Data And AI Summit Recap17:45 Agents Arrive Fast18:13 Get Found or Skipped19:13 Interface Is Disappearing19:30 Trust and Guardrails20:10 No Clear AI Winner21:00 Skift Events Ahead22:08 Saudi Airport Attacks26:16 Tourism Goals at Risk30:04 Winners and Losers32:06 Price Shock Reality Check34:33 Wrap Up and Farewell38 min - Andrew Zimmern on Why Travel Needs Trust in the AI Era
Andrew Zimmern joins Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko to discuss how AI, social media and the creator economy are changing the way travelers discover the world.
Zimmern argues that travel is entering a “trust economy,” as travelers navigate AI-generated recommendations, faceless travel accounts and millions of people presenting themselves as experts. He also explains why context matters more than bucket-list travel, what the demand for his guided trips says about the appetite for human-led experiences, and why he believes we all need “editors” in our lives.
The conversation covers food, overtourism, travel media, social discovery, hotels and some of Zimmern’s favorite destinations and travel experiences.
This episode is brought to you by ZS
Connect with Skift
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/
WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social
X: https://twitter.com/skift
Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.
00:00 Special Guest Intro
00:55 NYC Pizza Rant
02:03 Suprema Photo Story
05:46 Price Value Debate
08:58 Lines And Hype
11:43 From Food Lines To Overtourism
16:00 Elitism And Bucket Lists
18:44 Curated Tours Done Right
20:35 Russ And Daughters Lore
22:55 Whitefish Express History
24:58 Kayak Fishing Close Call
26:29 Travel Media In The Phone Era
31:39 Trust Amid Uncertainty
32:38 Trust Economy Shift
35:06 Traditional Media Credibility
36:43 Creating Without Gatekeepers
37:34 Why Everyone Needs Editors
43:41 From Bootstraps to Globalism
44:40 Inside Zimmern Tours
49:36 China Travel Obsession
50:39 Surprisingly Great Cruise
53:11 Hotel Geek Favorites
58:02 Travel Prep Through Fiction
59:16 Final Thanks and Signoff
1 hr 2 min - Growth Under Pressure: The Decisions Hotel Brands Are Making Now
Recorded live at Skift Global Forum 2026, Jeremy Kressman talks with Heather Balsley, Chief Commercial and Marketing Officer at IHG Hotels & Resorts, and Peter Manoogian, Partner at ZS, about hotel owner profitability, conversions and the changing economics of hotel growth.
They also discuss how AI is reshaping hotel search, loyalty and distribution, and why machine-readable, accurate and consistent hotel content is becoming a critical demand driver.
The conversation closes with a look at where hotel companies should focus their technology investments and why AI initiatives need to deliver more than marketing hype.
This episode is brought to you by ZS
Connect with Skift
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/
WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social
X: https://twitter.com/skift
Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.
00:00 Intro
00:47 Owner Profitability
02:45 Conversions vs. New Builds
04:45 Demand Capture
06:30 Loyalty in the AI Era
08:45 Tech Investment Priorities
12:15 Final Takeaways
18 min - AI Is Here. Now Travel Has to Figure Out Who to Trust.
Recorded live at Skift Global Forum, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko recap the biggest conversations from three days in New York, including AI agents, autonomous vehicles, Airbnb’s push into hotels, hotel owner economics and Prince Harry’s focus on destination sustainability.
They also explore the theme that came up repeatedly across the forum: trust. As AI moves from theory into products that can research, book and act on travelers’ behalf, Sarah and Seth discuss what it means to trust machines and who is accountable when things go wrong.
This episode is brought to you by ZS
Connect with Skift
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/
WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social
X: https://twitter.com/skift
Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.
00:00 Live From Skift Global Forum
03:00 The Biggest Highlights From Global Forum07:00 Prince Harry and the Future of Sustainable Travel10:00 Uber, Autonomous Vehicles and the Future of Travel13:00 Hotel Owners, Brands and the Franchise Debate16:30 The Biggest Theme at Global Forum: Trust19:00 AI Is No Longer Theoretical22:00 Why the Travel Industry Is Chasing Scale24:00 What Does Travel Look Like in 30 Years?26:00 Winners, Losers and Space Business Travel28:45 The AI Agent Coffee Bet33 min - The $100 Billion Travel Market Everyone Underestimates
Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko discuss Skift Research’s new Silver Tsunami report and the nearly $100 billion U.S. retirees are expected to spend on travel in 2026.
They also preview Skift Global Forum, including Airbnb’s push into hotels, the travel infrastructure companies building around AI, and the growing debate over AI risk. The episode closes with a discussion of rising borrowing costs and what higher interest rates could mean for travel development and supply.
This episode is brought to you by ZS
Connect with Skift
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/
WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social
X: https://twitter.com/skift
Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.
00:00 Retirees Spend Big
01:14 Silver Tsunami Explained
02:32 Gen Z vs Older Travelers
05:47 Survey Insights on Spending
07:05 Urgency and Mortality
09:41 Cruises and Product Fit
10:09 Retiree Spend Forecasts
12:07 Hotels Meet Communities
14:01 Global Forum Preview
15:41 Airbnb Hotels and AI
18:48 AI Risk Goes Mainstream
26:45 Winner Power Rankings
31:46 Loser Fed Rate Hike
34:07 Rates Impact Travel Builds
36:16 Wrap Up and Tickets
40 min - Premium Is Becoming Table Stakes for Travel. Now What?
Premium travel is booming, but the opportunity is becoming much bigger than luxury.
In this special episode of the Skift Travel Podcast, brought to you by ZS Associates, Jeremy Kressmann, Vice President, Skift Studio, sits down with Alex Trusca, Associate Principal, ZS Associates, to unpack why premiumization is emerging as a broader commercial strategy across travel.
They discuss why premium spending can extend well beyond high-income travelers, how brands can use services like late checkout, early check-in, priority access, and personalized offers to create incremental revenue, and why simply charging travelers for something they previously received for free isn’t a premium strategy. The conversation also explores how travel brands can use personalization to capture different willingness-to-pay across the same customer’s trips and occasions.
Jeremy and Alex also look at the next generation of premium travelers, what luxury brands need to do before younger consumers’ preferences lock in, and the question commercial leaders should be asking as they build their 2027 strategies.
18 min - Travel’s New Access Divide
Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko reflect on 25 years since 9/11 and how the attacks reshaped modern travel, from TSA and airport security to PreCheck, Clear, and the airport gate experience.
They also discuss why New York City hotels are so expensive in September, how peak-demand “compression nights” drive hotel pricing, and what Sarah’s experience using Instinct reveals about the next phase of AI-powered travel booking.
This episode is brought to you by ZS
Connect with Skift
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/
WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social
X: https://twitter.com/skift
Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.
00:00 Remembering 9/11
01:04 Seth’s 9/11 Story
04:22 How Flying Changed
08:40 Travel Resilience Data
11:12 Airlines Consolidate
15:08 NYC Travel Now
17:48 Hotel Rates Explained
23:12 Instinct AI Agent
28:05 Reservation Wars
33:36 Winners and Losers
39:42 Wrap Up and Plug
43 min - Fake AI Hotel Videos Are Coming for Travel
Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko break down two travel distribution stories that are really about trust.
First, Skift found AI-generated TikTok Go videos promoting a Sedona luxury resort with fake amenities, fake-looking creators, and commission tags that did not match the booking reality. Then, they unpack Dennis Schaal’s reporting on a bombshell estimate that Booking may be larger than Expedia in B2B room nights — a finding that could reshape how the industry thinks about OTA competition.
This episode is brought to you by ZS
Connect with Skift
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/
WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social
X: https://twitter.com/skift
Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.
00:00 AI TikTok Resort Scam
02:33 Breaking Down TikTok Go
03:23 Fake Amenities and Synth Creators
04:58 Cylon Detour
06:11 Affiliate Incentives Explained
07:30 Broken Links and Bad Actors
08:36 Owners and Brand Protection
13:06 Economics of TikTok Go
18:51 Trust Crisis for Travel Brands
23:19 Real World Guest Fallout
24:22 OTAs Meet TikTok
25:40 B2B White Label Basics
27:06 Real World Examples
29:43 Expedia B2B Dominance
32:07 Booking Consolidates B2B
33:35 Jaw Dropping Analyst Note
35:51 Scale Explains Surprise
43:27 Product Quality vs Volume
46:32 Winners and Losers
48:24 Global Forum Wrap Up
53 min - United’s New Routes Reveal Travel’s Next Bet
United is adding 10 new international routes, from Ibiza and Slovenia to Okinawa and Sardinia.
Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko discuss what the expansion says about premium leisure demand, how new long-range narrowbody aircraft are changing route economics, and why Generator’s premium-hostel strategy points to a new opportunity in the squeezed mid-market hotel space.
00:00 United Adds 10 Routes
00:54 Which Flights To Book
02:29 Leisure Travel Targeting
04:39 Premium Status Signaling
05:34 A321XLR Explained
07:19 Long And Skinny Economics
08:43 Charting Narrowbody Growth
10:25 Big Plane Nerding
12:43 More Oddball Nonstops
15:49 Hostel News And Freehand
18:46 Generator Goes Premium
21:55 Luxury Ladder Strategy
22:34 Generator Hostel Growth
23:24 Hostel Stigma and Selina
24:33 Pod Hotels vs Lifestyle
26:18 Airbnb and Segmentation
26:49 AI Op Ed Debate
30:40 Bad Writing and Care
35:10 AI Detectors and False Positives
40:17 Winners and Losers
43:31 NYC BQE Winner
45:49 Listener Questions and Wrap
49 min
About The Skift Travel Podcast
From the publisher's feed
Get the latest from the most-trusted travel industry news source.
Skift sits down with creatives, executives, and entrepreneurs from across travel to discuss their insights and perspectives on the hows and whys of travelers’ habits, industry patterns, and the seismic changes happening across the industry.
Listen for exclusive conversations with travel leaders and Skift's own in-house editors and analysts.
Read the latest news every day at skift.com/news.
More shows like The Skift Travel Podcast
This Week in Startups
1,288 Listeners
The Twenty Minute VC (20VC): Venture Capital | Startup Funding | The Pitch
543 Listeners
World Business Report
286 Listeners
Pivot
9,640 Listeners
The a16z Show
1,090 Listeners
Airline Weekly Lounge
137 Listeners
Masters of Scale
3,985 Listeners
The Indicator from Planet Money
9,502 Listeners
Slick Talk: The Hospitality Podcast
71 Listeners
The David Rubenstein Show
161 Listeners
Skift Daily Briefing
37 Listeners
The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway
5,348 Listeners
Good Morning Hospitality
12 Listeners
The Global Story
381 Listeners
Sharp Tech with Ben Thompson
98 Listeners
Prof G Markets
1,435 Listeners
Big Take Asia
21 Listeners
Suite Success: Masters of Hospitality
78 Listeners
Daily Departure
0 Listeners
GreenShift
0 Listeners