Travel tips: Stuck in a bad plane seat? Here's what to do - Nine.com.au

Agoda has “doubled” its supply of premium accommodation over the past four years, Andrew Smith, senior vice president of supply at the Booking Holdings-owned online travel agency, told Skift. Recent deals with luxury groups show how Agoda is adding that inventory.

Some Vrbo listings will be allowed to keep their annual subscriptions even as Vrbo ends its legacy subscription model on October 29, Skift has learned. They include some users of Vrbo’s in-house Escapia property management system, as well as others not on Escapia. Most listings on annual plans will be required to move to a 12% commission on each booking when their plans expire. The subscription can cost less than that for some hosts, and some hosts and homeowners have expressed concern about the change.

Various countries have updated their travel guidance as cost-of-living protests continue in France and neighboring countries. Hundreds of thousands of people in France took to the streets over the weekend to protest rising expenses and school conditions, with some demonstrations turning violent. At least 2,000 people have been arrested and more than 600 law enforcement officers and firefighters have been injured amid these scenes of violence, Laurent Nuñez, France’s minister of the interior, said Sunday.

Barbara Muckermann has left her role as Kempinski Hotels’ Group CEO after nearly two and a half years, amid departures across the luxury hotel company’s senior leadership, according to multiple sources who spoke to Skift. Chief Financial Officer Gordon Drake, Chief Human Resources Officer Karin Raguin, Chief Development Officer Frank Veenstra, and Chief Brand Officer Barbara Biffi have also left the company, according to sources. Chief Commercial Officer Massimo Brancaleoni has resigned but it's unclear if he has left yet.

More than a third of all flights from Saudi Arabia were canceled or did not fly on Monday amid continued attacks by Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, according to aviation analytics company Cirium. Around 322 out of 941 (or 34%) scheduled flights from the kingdom were canceled or did not fly on Monday, said Cirium. This marked an improvement from Sunday when more than half of all scheduled flights in Saudi Arabia were canceled or did not fly, the data showed.

Ixigo expects hotels to become one of its largest businesses within four to five years, co-founder and group co-CEO Aloke Bajpai said on the company’s earnings call Monday. He said the category could be “if not the largest, maybe the second largest” in its mix by gross transaction value (GTV). Hotels are still small, accounting for 2.1% of GTV. The company’s stated ambition is “to become the largest player serving this part of the hotel market,” and Bajpai said growth is not optional. “There is no choice, we have to grow,” he said.