

The Skift Travel Podcast
Skift
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.
Presented by Viasat Ads.
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.
Presented by Viasat Ads.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Mar 27, 2026 • 33min
3-Hour Airport Lines and a System Under Pressure
Three-hour airport lines and how staffing shortages at TSA magnified travel chaos. Ground stops, collisions, and tower issues that cascaded across major hubs. Uneven airport experiences from calm to chaotic and what rising call-outs and resignations mean for the system. Broader ripple effects on hotels, international visitors, and who benefits or loses as the crisis unfolds.

Mar 20, 2026 • 39min
The Iran War Broke More Than the Middle East
The Iran war exposed cracks across global travel, from broken systems and AI customer service failures to mounting pressure at U.S. airports.
In this episode of the Skift Travel Podcast, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko break down the latest travel fallout and explain why Latin America may be the most important market to watch next.
Presented by Viasat Ads. Click here to learn more!
00:00 Shutdown Travel Fallout00:49 Iran War Disruptions03:06 AI Fails in Crisis05:30 Chatbots vs Humans08:23 Shutdown Hits TSA11:26 Donations for Agents14:22 Newark Airport Tangent16:32 Latin America Resilience19:33 New Traveler Survey20:27 Top Destinations Quiz20:59 Politics vs Travel Demand22:16 Affordability Takes Over23:05 Broadway Sticker Shock24:42 How LatAm Plans Trips27:17 AI Disrupts Search First28:26 Buy Now Pay Later and FX29:25 Crypto and Inflation Mindset31:01 Government Shutdown Bet33:11 Winners Losers and Wrap
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Mar 13, 2026 • 46min
Oil Hit $100. What Happens to Travel Now?
Oil hit $100, airlines are under pressure, and Gen Z is not behaving like millennials did.
In this episode of the Skift Travel Podcast, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko unpack what higher fuel prices mean for airline economics, how this week’s travel chaos felt in real life, and why new Skift Research suggests Gen Z may force the industry to rethink some big assumptions.
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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.

Mar 6, 2026 • 46min
War, Airspace, and Oil: The Risks Facing Travel Right Now
Gordon Smith, Airlines Editor at Airline Weekly who tracks aviation networks and geopolitics, joins to unpack airspace turmoil. He discusses Gulf hub shutdowns and fragile transit networks. Routing chaos, fuel-price risks, and alternate corridor winners get short, sharp attention. The conversation maps how conflicts ripple through scheduling, airports, and passenger choices.

Feb 27, 2026 • 44min
The Hidden Risks Hotel Owners Never Planned For
Hotels are facing political pressures they were never built to handle.
In this episode, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko examine how immigration enforcement, protests, and franchise agreements are forcing hotel owners into impossible decisions.
They also explore why hotel brands have doubled in number but struggle to stand out, and what that means for the future of travel.
Presented by Viasat Ads. Click here to learn more!
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.

Feb 19, 2026 • 35min
Marriott Is Worried About AI. Should They Be?
Marriott expects 35% growth in co-branded credit card fees next year. At the same time, it’s warning investors that AI could disrupt its entire loyalty ecosystem.
In this episode of the Skift Travel Podcast, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko break down what’s happening at the intersection of loyalty, artificial intelligence, and geopolitics.
They start with Marriott’s earnings, where the power of co-branded credit cards is now central to profitability. With 270 million Bonvoy members and over $700 million in credit card fees, loyalty has become a financial engine. But in a dramatic shift from prior years, Marriott and Hilton are now explicitly disclosing AI as a risk in their SEC filings.
Why? Because AI-powered intermediaries may change how travelers search, compare, and book hotels. Skift Research data shows that only 6% of travelers say they would remain loyal if an AI found them a better deal. That’s a sobering number for any brand betting on loyalty.
The conversation then widens to Skift Research’s 2026 outlook, where the word of the year is “resilience.” Consumers continue to prioritize travel globally, even amid affordability pressures and economic uncertainty. But geopolitics, from protests to tariffs to airspace disruptions, may be the single biggest risk facing the industry.
They close with a look at tech stock volatility, market reactions to AI, and what all of this means for travel companies heading into an uncertain year.
A sharp, data-driven discussion about loyalty, AI disruption, market risk, and the resilience of the global traveler.
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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.

Feb 12, 2026 • 36min
Ozempic, Travel, and the End of the Old Vacation Model
Weight loss drugs may be one of the most underestimated forces reshaping travel.
In this episode of the Skift Travel Podcast, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko unpack how GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic are quietly changing who travels, where they go, and how they spend.
As obesity rates decline for the first time in decades and medication prices fall, travelers are unlocking trips they once thought were impossible, from walkable European cities to long-delayed bucket-list experiences.
The conversation explores how this shift affects hotels, cruises, airports, and destinations. They debate whether cruise lines could lose part of their core audience, why airports may need to rethink food, alcohol, and retail revenue, and how experiential travel becomes more important as physical barriers fade.
Along the way, they connect the dots to major cultural moments like the Super Bowl halftime show and the Olympics, showing how entertainment, health, and tourism increasingly intersect.
A timely look at why travel demand is changing, and why the industry may be less prepared than it thinks.
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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.

Feb 5, 2026 • 46min
Why Travel Companies Are Staying Silent on Politics
This week on the Skift Travel Podcast, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko tackle a wide-ranging conversation that sits at the intersection of geopolitics, growth, and brand identity in travel.
They begin with one striking reality: very few travel companies are willing to go on the record about political issues, even as immigration policy, protests, and global perception begin to influence tourism decisions ahead of major events like the World Cup.
From there, Seth breaks down Skift Research’s latest Travel Health Index, revealing a year of uneven growth, regional divergence, and a continued shift of travel’s center of gravity toward Asia and the Middle East, while North America and Europe lag behind.
The episode also covers severe winter storms and flight cancellations, airline geopolitics, American Airlines’ return to Venezuela, uncertainty around aircraft certification, and what safety, affordability, and perception mean for U.S. tourism in 2026.
The conversation closes with a deeper question facing hotels, Airbnb, and destinations alike: can brands scale without losing their soul? Using lifestyle hotels as a case study, Sarah and Seth explore why “cool” is harder to scale than luxury, and why fixed assets collide with fast-moving cultural trends.
A thoughtful, data-backed look at where travel is headed and what’s holding it back.
Presented by Viasat Ads. Click here to learn more!
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.

Jan 29, 2026 • 35min
Airbnb, OTAs, and the Fight for Control of Travel
This week on the Skift Travel Podcast, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko break down a set of travel industry flashpoints that all connect back to one thing: trust.
They start with the industry’s most hated topic, fees. Resort fees, junk fees, and the reality that “transparent pricing” usually just means the cost moves around, not that it disappears. They dig into what travelers actually notice, what regulators are trying to fix, and why hotels keep getting stuck in the middle of disclosure, taxes, and pricing optics.
Then the conversation shifts to Airbnb’s renewed hotel push, including its moves to bring more independent and boutique hotels onto the platform. Seth lays out why Airbnb’s brand has always benefited from being the alternative, and why chasing scale creates a new set of tradeoffs, especially when you are competing with the OTA giants.
If you care about where travel distribution is heading, and why pricing trust is becoming a competitive advantage, this one’s for you.
Presented by Viasat Ads. Click here to learn more!
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.

Jan 26, 2026 • 4min
New from Skift: Executive Conversations Shaping the Travel Industry
We’re sharing a preview of a new podcast from Skift called Skift Take Sessions.
Skift Take Sessions is a weekly, journalist-led podcast built from the most important conversations shaping the global travel industry. Each episode features candid interviews with CEOs and senior leaders across airlines, hotels, and travel platforms, recorded live at Skift events and expanded with context around why the conversation matters now and what we learned.
Hosted by Wil Slickers, the show brings listeners inside executive-level thinking from leaders at companies like Hilton, Expedia Group, Airbnb, JetBlue, and more.
New episodes drop every week.
Listen and follow Skift Take Sessions:
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/skift-take-sessions/id1871511773
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4oKApv7z0I65VpySjh9rqP?si=2e8f1e3e83e8459d
Skift.com: https://skift.com/skift-travel-podcasts/


