Mallorca’s Visitor Boom, Hotels and AI and Southwest’s Optimism

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, September 27, and here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

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Episode Notes

Hotel companies are trying to figure out how artificial intelligence will impact their businesses. Leaders in the industry aren’t quite sure yet, reports Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill, who attended the Destination AI summit in Washington, D.C. 

Jess Petitt, an executive at Hilton, said the number of hotel bookings made using generative AI is minuscule but added the technology would make a huge impact on the industry. However, some experts are skeptical about generative AI significantly changing the balance of power regarding how hotels attract customers. O’Neill writes if hotel companies don’t adequately invest in the technology, they’ll be out-competed technologically. 

Next, Mallorca continues to be a tourism hotspot despite recent large-scale protests against mass tourism to the island, writes Global Tourism Reporter Dawit Habtemariam. 

Mallorca recorded more than 8.5 million overnight hotel stays in August, the highest of any tourist region in Spain. The island also had the highest weekend hotel occupancy at 90%. Despite widespread coverage of the protests, a recently released survey by Mallorca’s tourism board found roughly 90% of American visitors were unaware of the anti-mass tourism demonstrations.

Finally, Southwest Airlines has raised its revenue outlook for the third quarter as it plans to make more changes to its business operations, writes Airlines Reporter Meghna Maharishi, who was in Dallas for Southwest’s “Investor Day” presentations. 

Southwest expects its revenue per available seat mile to increase between 2% and 3%, up from previous estimates. The company attributed the increase in part to a surge in travel demand. Meanwhile, to help boost profits, Southwest has unveiled plans to introduce premium seating and red-eye flights. 

Southwest projects the seating changes will generate an additional $1.5 billion in revenue.