Pranavi Agarwal Archives

As an analyst at Skift Research, Pranavi produces deep-dive reports on key topics in the travel industry by analyzing financial data and interviewing senior executives in the industry. She focuses mainly on the hotel and OTA (Online Travel Agency) sectors.

Prior to joining Skift, Pranavi was a Senior Associate/AVP at Bernstein, a sell-side equity research firm, where she covered the travel sector (analyzing companies such as Airbnb, Booking, Hilton and Marriott, amongst others). She has a BSc degree in Physics from Imperial College London.

Online Travel

MakeMyTrip Dominates Travel Search in India - Can it Hold On to Its Lead?

MakeMyTrip excelled in 2024 with strong growth and Google dominance but faces rising competition in India’s rapidly evolving online travel market.

Pranavi Agarwal | 2 weeks ago

Colorful 18th century buildings along an urban waterway.

Hotels

Will Hotel Direct Bookings Overtake OTAs? Digging Deeper Into Our Forecast

With hotel brands making major strides in customer ownership, it is time to start anticipating when direct bookings will outpace third-party sites.

Pranavi Agarwal and Seth Borko | 2 months ago

Travel Technology

Lighthouse’s $370 Million Haul: Venture Capital Is Moving Into Hospitality Tech

Our data showed a 30% annual increase in venture capital funding into travel companies focused on AI in 2023.

Pranavi Agarwal | 2 months ago

Hotels

The Ideal Mix For Hotel Distribution: Direct Bookings to Lead by 2030

By 2030, direct digital bookings will surpass online travel agencies as the dominant distribution channel, generating over $400 billion in global hotel gross bookings.

Pranavi Agarwal | 2 months ago

Tourism

Travel Isn't Recession-Proof – But it May Be 'Recession-Resistant'

Travel, as a discretionary item, will never be fully immune to the impacts of a recession. But in today's environment, travel could be more recession resistant, if not fully recession proof.

Pranavi Agarwal | 4 months ago

Online Travel

Marketing Wars: Booking vs. Expedia – Who Spends Smarter?

In 2023, Booking and Expedia spent a combined $13 billion on marketing, with Booking demonstrating better efficiency and global reach. While both still invest heavily in Google, they're shifting towards alternative marketing strategies like price discounting and B2B channels.

Pranavi Agarwal | 5 months ago

Startups

Travel Venture Capital Hit a Decade Low in 2023: Where the Growth Is Now – Skift Research

Travel venture capital hit a decade low of $2.9 billion in 2023, but early 2024 signals a rebound with increased investments from Asia and the Middle East and a focus on experiences and AI.

Pranavi Agarwal | 7 months ago

Hotels

Skift Research Scraped 20,000 Google Hotel Listings: Here's What We Found

We web-scraped 20k+ hotels listed on Google across the U.S., Europe, Asia and Middle East to understand which online travel agencies and direct sites compete for bookings in Google's sponsored and organic listings.

Pranavi Agarwal | 9 months ago

Online Travel

Booking and Expedia: The Easy Money Is Over, What Comes Next?

Booking and Expedia now face slower growth, stiffer competition and increased pressure on profit margins.

Pranavi Agarwal | 10 months ago

Hotels

3 Charts That Show Hotel Prices Will Keep Rising in 2024

Goodbye double-digit growth? Hotel prices soared post-pandemic, but with inflation cooling and travel normalizing, 2024 poses the question: Can pricing strength hold? We think so.

Pranavi Agarwal | 12 months ago