Southwest’s Vacation Packages, Frustrated Biz Travelers and the Rate Cut Travel Companies Long For
Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, August 20. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.
Southwest Airlines announced on Tuesday that it’s launching its own in-house vacation packages, writes Airlines Reporter Meghna Maharishi.
Getaways by Southwest will allow customers to earn Rapid Rewards points while booking vacation packages that include flights, hotels, and ground transportation. Southwest will offer vacation packages for more than 30 markets, including Las Vegas, Orlando, and Hawaii.
Southwest is among the growing number of airlines that are leaning into the lucrative vacation packages market. The carrier had previously advertised special offers for car rentals, hotels, and cruises instead of directly selling them to customers.
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Next, business travelers are increasingly reporting frustration with how booking travel has gotten more complicated, including having to deal with missing fares and mismatched prices, reports Contributor Clara Awuse.
Awuse writes content fragmentation, where airlines distribute fares across multiple systems that agencies and travel management companies must stitch together, has become a major issue in corporate travel. A recent Sabre survey found roughly 90% of travel agencies now rely on four or more booking systems, and 80% agreed that setup is driving up costs.
Andy Finkelstein, a Sabre executive, said if content is spread across multiple systems, travelers may never be offered the most appropriate itinerary.
Finally, Editor-in-Chief Sarah Kopit explains why the stakes are high for the travel industry at the Federal Reserve’s annual retreat in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Kopit notes markets expect U.S. Fed Chair Jerome Powell to hint at a September interest-rate cut. Affluent households, already driving spending and benefiting from an elevated stock market, could be further encouraged by rate cuts to book more expensive trips.
Kopit adds that even a single quarter-point cut could save businesses millions as airlines, hotels, and hospitality providers rely on debt markets to finance planes, properties, and new business. Airlines would also benefit if lower interest rates were to stimulate more business investment and consumer spending.
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