Episode Notes

The short-term rental industry has seen an enormous boom over the last decade. And ahead of Skift’s Short-Term Rental Summit in New York next week, Skift Research has unveiled the Skift Short-Term Rental 250, a list of the 250 most prominent companies in the industry.

Head of Skift Research Wouter Geerts writes the detailed look at the sector comes four years after its seminal report on the short-term rental ecosystem. He adds that Skift Research divided the 250 companies into three distinct sectors. The new report also delves into Airbnb’s dominance of the short-term rental industry.

Next, India-based low-cost carrier Indigo had a banner financial year, flying over 86 million passengers, a 72 percent year-over-year jump. And the company believes an enhanced loyalty program will attract more customers, reports Asia Editor Peden Doma Bhutia.

Indigo CEO Pieter Elbers said in an interview with Skift that the Indian market is ready for a loyalty system unlike 10 ten years ago. However, he added the company isn’t sure what features its planned loyalty program will include. Indigo had introduced in 2019 the Ka-Ching card in 2019, a cashback system that Elbers had described as a form of loyalty without classical tiers. 

Bhutia adds that international expansion is on the horizon for Indigo. It’s the world’s sixth largest carrier in terms of market size despite its low presence outside of India. Roughly 90 percent of its passengers are domestic travelers. The company is looking to fly into Nairobi and Jakarta among other destinations with its current fleet. 

We end today with a look at the hotel industry’s highest paid CEOs in 2022. Most major hotel CEOs actually ended the year with less overall compensation than they originally expected, reports Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill. 

Rob Goldstein at the Las Vegas Sands Corp. was 2022’s highest paid public hotel company CEO, taking home $40 million. He was immediately followed by Choice Hotels International CEO Patrick Pacious, who received $27 million in total compensation. However, O’Neill writes those figures weren’t the most noteworthy detail in hotel CEO pay. A new rule requires U.S. companies to more clearly state the equity awards that represent the pay packages for top executives. That new disclosure showed CEOs took home less money than anticipated. 

O’Neill adds European-based hotel companies weren’t required to disclose compensation in the same manner as U.S. companies. The CEOs of IHG and Accor received less compensation on average than their U.S.-based counterparts.