Travelers Are Waiting Longer to Book And It’s Changing Everything

Travel demand is holding steady but shifting to last-minute booking behavior, forcing companies to adapt faster, while IHG argues scale is the best defense against global uncertainty and a new CEO letter warns that many 2026 assumptions have already broken. On today’s Skift Daily Briefing, Sarah Dandashy breaks down why shorter booking windows are reshaping how travel companies operate, how large hotel groups are positioning themselves to absorb demand shifts across regions, and why industry leaders say this year requires faster decisions and a reset in strategy. This episode is presented by Lodgify! Articles Referenced: Honorable Mention: @AskAConcierge on IGAccor CEO: Geopolitical Turmoil Isn’t Killing Travel — But Companies Need AgilityIHG CEO: Uncertainty Is the Only Certainty We HaveThe Recalibration: A CEO-to-CEO Letter on How to Think About the Rest of 2026 Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social X: https://twitter.com/skift Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.