Rafat Ali

Latest Stories

Overtourism

Out of the Zoom, Into the Geyser: Skift Team Reunites for Annual Retreat in Rebounding Iceland

The dual-purpose Skift annual retreat — bonding with our globally dispersed team and an immersive deep dive into a globally relevant destination — is on this week, and comes a full circle almost a decade later.

Rafat Ali | 8 months ago

Out of the Zoom, Into the Geyser: Skift Team Reunites for Annual Retreat in Rebounding Iceland

News Blog

Brian Chesky’s Vision For Airbnb Going Ahead, Articulated

Airbnb has been out there a lot these last couple of weeks talking about its new product updates and launches, and CEO and Co-Founder Brian Chesky has been surprisingly open about what went wrong from the original vision, how he runs the company and what's coming in the company's AI-driven future, even beyond its core.…

Rafat Ali | 8 months ago

Announcements

Introducing Ask Skift, the AI Chatbot to Answer All Your Travel Industry Queries*

We are using AI to build the next, deeper phase of our relationship with you – indeed the next phase of Skift 11 years in – to graduate you from a Skift reader to a Skift user.

Rafat Ali | 8 months ago

Introducing Ask Skift, the AI Chatbot to Answer All Your Travel Industry Queries*

News Blog

What Will Airbnb Launch Beyond Its Travel Core?

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky was very open with me in the interview I did with him earlier this week, where he tantalizingly hinted at how Airbnb will change in the next year, much of it predicated on AI. In it, here are the few long range things he talked about: "We’re going to launch a…

Rafat Ali | 8 months ago

Online Travel

Interview: Airbnb CEO On How Its Service Will Radically Change With AI, By Next Year

The AI-driven Airbnb is coming, so watch its trajectory of launches later this year and mid next year. Chesky promises it will be a whole different service by next year.

Rafat Ali | 8 months ago

Interview: Airbnb CEO On How Its Service Will Radically Change With AI, By Next Year

Travel Technology

Google Maps Is the Potential Killer App In This Age of AI

"Conversational search is about to get wildly useful and cleverly orchestrated across maps, points of interest, personalization, geo-location and enriched content."

Rafat Ali | 9 months ago

Google Maps Is the Potential Killer App In This Age of AI

Airlines

SAS CEO: European Airlines Desperately Need Consolidation

For now, SAS is focused on getting out of bankruptcy in clean financial shape, and hopes to be part of whatever larger European airline landscape emerges in coming years.

Rafat Ali | 10 months ago

SAS CEO: European Airlines Desperately Need Consolidation

Online Travel

The Era of Radical Innovation in Travel Booking Has Arrived

For years, we at Skift have talked about messaging & voice search being two potential new interfaces that help change travel booking, but not much has happened. Conversational AI is very likely going to change that.

Rafat Ali | 11 months ago

The Era of Radical Innovation in Travel Booking Has Arrived

News Blog

AI Wars Comes For Travel Planning, As Bing Relaunches Around ChatGPT

The Microsoft-owned also-ran search engine Bing has relaunched around conversational chatbot technology powered by ChatGPT, the new sensation owned by OpenAI. In an event today, the CEOs of Microsoft and OpenAI gave a demo of the new Bing, and it will be open to all in coming days. The refreshed Bing provides a chatbox with…

Rafat Ali | 11 months ago

News Blog

Hilton Launches Music Concerts Starting With Brandi Carlile to Highlight Connected Rooms

A smart new campaign launched by Hilton, highlighting its connected rooms feature, for travelers looking for larger spaces when booking family or group travel. First in this "Connecting Room Concerts" series, a performance from Brandi Carlile, six-time Grammy-Awards winner – and nominated seven times for tonight's 2023 Grammys Awards – from a pair of connected…

Rafat Ali | 11 months ago