About
Rafat is the CEO/Founder of Skift, the largest business media intelligence and marketing…
Articles by Rafat
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The New Creator Economy Is Monetizing Your AI Brain
The New Creator Economy Is Monetizing Your AI Brain
If you and I asked Claude (or ChatGPT) the exact same question about the future of travel distribution, we'd get…
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My Ode to the YouTube That Rewired My Life
My Ode to the YouTube That Rewired My Life
A personal reflection on a year of change, recovery, and the evolving ways we consume meaning, information, and…
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How Skift Taught Travel to Think Differently About Itself
How Skift Taught Travel to Think Differently About Itself
So this is the exercise: Thirteen years into building Skift, I’m taking stock not because the work is finished, but…
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Travel’s Newest Strategic Hire: The Conversational AI Designer
Travel’s Newest Strategic Hire: The Conversational AI Designer
This is a preview of my new bi-weekly newsletter for Skift Pro subscribers, for now free to sample. Sign up for free…
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Why Storytelling Still Matters
Why Storytelling Still Matters
I wrote this memo to the Skift team about a month ago as we are entering the second half of 2025, coming up to 13 years…
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The Rule, the Exception, and the Structural Obsolescence of Mainstream Media
The Rule, the Exception, and the Structural Obsolescence of Mainstream Media
I’ve been thinking about the structural obsolescence of mainstream media and, specifically, the fate of the story…
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Stage Left: How Conferences Are Failing Their Attendees...and Speakers
Stage Left: How Conferences Are Failing Their Attendees...and Speakers
My life has been creating, building, covering (editorially), speaking and attending industry conferences for the better…
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Why I Kept 'Customer Service' in my Email Signature: A CEO's Perspective
Why I Kept 'Customer Service' in my Email Signature: A CEO's Perspective
For over a decade, as Skift has evolved and expanded, my email signature has remained constant. It's been there since…
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Don’t Create Company Culture
Don’t Create Company Culture
About two decades into creating media companies with a laser focus on non-scaled quality of work as my operating…
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581 Days Later, It’s Time to Travel
581 Days Later, It’s Time to Travel
581 days ago, I wrote this essay on how March 14, 2020 will forever be remembered in history books as the day the world…
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Rafat Ali shared thisDetails. The things people may not notice, but all 105 of us at Skift care deeply about. Because even when people do not notice the details themselves, they notice how those details make them feel. This week, about 60 of us came together in NYC to produce the most complex Skift Global Forum in our history, welcome 1,500 attendees over 3 days, and relaunch Skift after a year of intense work. More than 40 colleagues were working alongside us from around the world. They are on the screens behind us in this on-stage photo, exactly where they belong. 14 years into building Skift, what meant the most to me was seeing 105 people across 18 countries and time zones so switched on and in sync. We write constantly about the kind of hospitality that makes people feel looked after. This week, our team practiced it. I am deeply proud of this team, in NYC and around the world. الحمد لله
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Rafat Ali shared thisA year ago we asked what Skift would look like if we started it all over again today. This week, at Skift Global Forum, we showed the answer. We launched Ask Skift in May 2023 as a chatbot, and a year later it became an answer engine. Skift Intelligence is the v3, and it does something different: it's a decision layer, built on top of everything we've made in 14 years — the reporting, the research, the frameworks, everything said on our stages, the filings we read ourselves — and it tells you what it — as Skift — would do. Not a summary. A view, with the sources behind it. We built it for the roughly 5,000 people who decide where travel's money goes next. We call them the Skift 5000. A lot of them were in the room this week. It's live now. The full story of what we built and who built it: 👉🏼👉🏼🔗🔗👏🏼👏🏼 https://lnkd.in/d3jMHgP3 P.S.: MCP access and other connectors coming very soon. Trust me, the most requested thing, just a matter of sequencing as a small team...
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Rafat Ali shared thisGlenn at his fiery best, always with Dennis, who else...Rafat Ali shared thisGreat to have a wide-ranging conversation on AI, competition, and the future of travel at Skift Global Forum this week, including why travel is about much more than the transaction. AI may shift where some travel journeys start but travelers will still need expertise and support they can trust, especially when plans change or things don’t go as expected. That’s the opportunity I see the most potential in: using technology not simply to make booking easier, but to make the entire travel experience better, more personalized, and connected. Thanks, Dennis Schaal, for the insightful conversation. https://lnkd.in/epeswxcKBooking CEO: Building the AI Travel Agent Isn't the Hard PartBooking CEO: Building the AI Travel Agent Isn't the Hard Part
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Rafat Ali shared this
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Rafat Ali shared thisAnything for the guests, above all... Chris Nassetta wanted a table for his cup, for now the chair will do...🪑Rafat Ali shared thisRegardless of where you are or who you are, hospitality WINS ☕️ As we welcomed Chris Nassetta, President & CEO of Hilton, to the #SkiftGlobalForum stage, he reminded Sean that last year he’d suggested having a table for his coffee. So he called Rafat over for a solution… and a chair quickly appeared. 😂 “That’s good hospitality.” Some moments you just can’t script. Skift Live, never better said!
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Rafat Ali shared thisReady when you all are, here we come.. Skift Global Forum 2026 starts in an hour…
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Rafat Ali reposted thisRafat Ali reposted thisA year ago, we asked ourselves one question: if we were starting Skift all over again in 2026, what would it look like, and how would people use it? You’re looking at the answer: “I READ SKIFT”→“I USE SKIFT” For fourteen years, people have said “I read Skift.” Now they can say “I use Skift.” That is the whole change, in one word. Skift has become the decision engine for the business of travel: fourteen years of journalism, research, events, and advisory work, brought together with one point of view and pointed at the decisions the people who run this industry have to make. We call it Skift Intelligence. Learn more here: https://hubs.li/Q04y1x2f0
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Rafat Ali shared thisLaunching: The New Skift! For 14 years people have said "I read Skift." Starting today, we want them to say "I use Skift." That's the whole change, in one word. Skift Intelligence is our AI decision layer, built on top of everything we've made in 14 years — the reporting, the research, the frameworks, everything anyone has said on our stages — and pointed at the decisions the people who run this industry have to make. You ask a real question. Skift answers, with a source behind every claim. Then you decide. It's built first for the roughly 5,000 people who decide where travel's money goes next. We call them the Skift 5000. A lot of them are in NYC at Global Forum this week. Skift is now the decision engine for the business of travel. The full story of what we built, and who built it, is in the post below. 14 days free for anyone who wants to try it. 🔗🔗👉🏼👉🏼 https://lnkd.in/d3jMHgP3 Don't make decisions in the dark. Turn on Skift Intelligence. Try it!
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Rafat Ali shared thisAaand..it lands, just in time for my interview with Brian Chesky day after at Skift Global Forum, the first report card on how hotels are doing within Airbnb ecosystem, by Sean O'Neill. Chesky’s journey from ideological to practical, that will be a major part of my focus with him… Read it before you all show up!Rafat Ali shared thisOne of Airbnb's first taglines was "Forget hotels." And CEO Brian Chesky once thought the company would never list one. He changed his mind because customers kept asking for them, he said at a Goldman Sachs conference this month. "At some point, I stopped being ideological," Chesky said. "I started becoming practical." He now wants hotels to become one of Airbnb's next "multi-billion-dollar businesses." But Airbnb isn't copying Booking.com or Expedia. At least for now, it's curating supply, taking a lower cut, and betting that its audience, with over 1.6 billion devices accessing it every year, will deliver demand to hotels that they aren't getting elsewhere. https://hubs.li/Q04xZXD_0
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Rafat Ali liked thisRafat Ali liked thisPeople travel to meet other people, learn and step slightly outside their comfort zone. Intrepid Travel Co-Founder and Chairman Darrell Wade told Skift Global Forum that the industry's focus on luxury and big assets like cruise ships and hotels misses the point.Intrepid Founder: Travel Isn't About Cruise Ships With 20 RestaurantsIntrepid Founder: Travel Isn't About Cruise Ships With 20 Restaurants
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Rafat Ali reacted on thisSo proud of my daughter Jillian Agaliotis and the hard work she put in both in the lead-up and on-site at this year's Skift Meetings and Global Forums! A huge thank you to Skift for giving her this opportunity, to the team for being so great to collaborate with, and to Barbara for the kind shoutout. Jill learned so much from the experience and is excited to launch her career in marketing as she looks for her first full-time role!Rafat Ali reacted on thisTo help out at this year's Skift Global Forum, our logistics team brought in the daughters of some of our staff members. What a great idea--a win-win on both sides! Meet Jillian Agaliotis, daughter of Skift Meetings' Monique Agaliotis, who recently graduated with a business degree from the University of Delaware (and would be quite a catch if you're hiring)! Skift Meetings Skift
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Rafat Ali reacted on thisRafat Ali reacted on thisCall me Stella Lefty but I'm on a train back to Boston and just reflecting on this week, and this is the part of my post where some gratitude must flow, but I like it when we think big, I like it when we think big things together. That's what happens when the travel industry comes together in NYC for the Skift Global Forum to talk about the issues that are dominating our industry as we collectively ponder how to better serve travelers. Congrats to Rafat Ali, Sarah Kopit, Dennis Schaal, Seth Borko, Bailey Schulz, Wil Slickers, and Brian Quinn (and everyone at Skift) for putting together one of the best and most diverse travel industry leadership events yet! My highlights: 🏈 🎵 ☀️ Live event tourism is driving more travelers of all ages to pair bucket list destinations with sports, music, or major historic events and natural phenomenon, e.g. seeing solar eclipse in Spain while enjoying a fine Vermut. 🧑🍳 🍇 🇮🇳 Food and beverage is factoring more into our travel decisions than ever before as we seek out new flavors that give us a connection to the land and the locals we visit and learn from. 🌎 💚 🌿 Our prince from Cali who founded Travalyst challenged us to do better as a tourism industry to care for our planet and to be travelers, not tourists in the local communities we visit. 🚨🚨🚨 But the headline with sirens blaring, one of the big travel distribution questions of our time: In a world of AI, to Muse or not to Muse? 🤔 Will these AI powered personal shopping agents and concierge's be the next big distermediation within our industry, driving bookings directly to airlines, hotels, tour operators and other suppliers - and away from OTAs and other travel planning sites? There is a moment happening here, and I do believe trust in brands, excellence in customer support, prices and value, and top notch experiences will be what wins in the end when it comes to the digital shopper. I also believe that a large segment will continue to be analog shoppers who prefer trusted travel advisors to help them plan their next trip (who will also most certainly use these AI channels to plan for their clients). So appreciative that EF World Journeys could be there to talk about how the multi-day tour renaissance continues and how we're taking experiential travel into the future. I'm so thankful our CEO Heidi Durflinger and EVP of Corp Dev Dana Santucci could represent the company at the Women Leading Travel Summit. And appreciative more in the industry got to meet Shane Steffens as he builds the next generation of guided tour experiences for Gen Z travelers. EF Go Ahead Tours, EF Adventures, EF Ultimate Break - we're coming home thinking about the future and ready to get to work!
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Rafat Ali liked thisRafat Ali liked thisChristine Duffy is one of the most inspiring leaders in the global #travelindustry. From being an aspiring Pan Am flight attendant, to leading Carnival Cruise Line as President for the last twelve years. I had the pleasure of discussing her career journey on the sidelines of this week’s Skift Global Forum in NYC, in the awesome mobile podcast studio. We’ll be bringing you the full conversation sometime soon. Watch this space. #skiftlive
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Rafat Ali liked thisTakeaway: There is no successful travel without successful destinations. We can take care of each other and the people in the room at Skift Global Forum can make that happen. Thank you to the Duke of Sussex for joining us and sharing that simple but signicant messageRafat Ali liked thisThe Okavango Delta in Botswana has been a second home to Prince Harry for more than 25 years. The Duke of Sussex told Skift Global Forum that places like it aren't just somewhere to visit. They're home to the people and wildlife who live there, and the travel industry can't succeed unless they do too.Prince Harry on Botswana: These Places Aren't Destinations. They're HomePrince Harry on Botswana: These Places Aren't Destinations. They're Home
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Rafat Ali reacted on thisRafat Ali reacted on thisI've been sitting with this one for over a week because I don't feel "powerful", and it's weird to see our names on a list like this with these incredible women. Skift Meetings named me and Nicole Osibodu, XOXO as part of the "Most Powerful Women in Meetings". I've read that sentence probably fifty times and it still doesn't feel like it's about me. Even at the powerful jobs, powerful brands, I never felt like I was on top. Corporate America is built to keep pushing down on you the second you start pushing up. When I left IBM in 2018 to start an agency with some friends, it was fun & exciting, but it wasn't mine. I didn't own it (I was one of the "owners" but it wasn't really that way), I didn't control what happened to it, I didn't get to make the real decisions. Now Nicole & I own what's happening with Club Ichi, and I finally feel like we're building something we're proud of. It's taken a lot out of us, and it's given a lot back to us, and some days I can't tell which is winning. Every time it grows I worry we'll lose the intimacy that made it work, and in the same breath I get excited watching the influence & the opportunities for our members grow right alongside it. Years ago, when I was at Dell, Event Marketer invited me onto a roundtable for women in events. Blowout bar, professional photo shoot, the whole thing. I still didn't feel like I belonged in that room, and when the print issue came out my photos were so bad I never told anyone I'd even been part of it. I buried it. I don't usually land on people's lists unless they're selling me something or riding my LinkedIn reach coattails by tagging me into a post they want seen, & I've never chased awards so I don't apply to those things. But this Skift one hit different and at just the right time. I'm proud of it. I'm proud of us, our confidence, our relationships, the recommendation engine we've built inside this community, the growing network of people who make it so special. It might be the only list I've ever actually wanted to be on because this time it feels earned and it feels real, and it feels like what we're building really fits here. Thank you, Skift, and thank you Andrea Doyle. Truly.
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Rafat Ali reacted on thisRafat Ali reacted on thisI was proud to represent Moving Mountains and StayTerra at Skift Global Forum this past week to accept the Skift Idea Award for best properties in the Short Term Rental category on behalf of my amazing Moving Mountains TEAM and our loyal homeowner partners! It was an incredibly impressive conference with some of the most influential leaders in the travel industry on the stage and amongst the attendees list. We’ll be back next year!
Experience
Education
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Indiana University Bloomington
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Knight Foundation New Media Fellow for the duration of the course
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Languages
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English
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Urdu
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Hindi
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