Brand USA

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Today, we're covering Airbnb's big bet on hotels, the former hotel CEO is building an AI-native management company that isn't shy about cutting jobs, and why Brand USA's COVID-era funding windfall is running thin.

Welcome back to the Skift Daily Briefing.

It's Tuesday, September 22nd.

Instead, his agentic AI and other automation would let his company generate higher margins than the typical third-party hotel operator.

And finally,

Brand USA's COVID-era budget windfall is growing thin.

A one-time $250 million boost from Congress in 2022 had let the nation's DMO operate on a nearly full budget, even after its federal funding match was cut 80% in 2025.

The outreach is happening at the national level too.

Brand USA, the U.S. tourism industry marketing organization, is bringing its Travel Week trade event series to Canada for the first time in October, expanding and rebranding an earlier program known as Canadian Connect.

So, another news.

Midterm elections head into the home stretch.

The fee structure is honestly one of the more elegant details.

$4 of every application funds Brand USA, the tourism promotion agency.

They are, but their role changed.

Before ESTA, an airline flying a passenger without valid entry documentation would get fined and have to fly the person back at their own expense.

Let's get into it.

First up, sources tell Skift that Brand USA CEO Fred Dixon is in advanced talks to return to NYC tourism and conventions.

The organization's finance committee has already approved a compensation package, and its board has ratified the offer.

Sources tell Skift that Brand USA CEO Fred Dixon is in advanced talks to return to NYC tourism and conventions.

The organization's finance committee has already approved a compensation package, and its board has ratified the offer.

The appointment isn't yet final, but one source familiar with the negotiations called it, quote, "A done deal." Dixon spent nearly twenty years at NYC Tourism before he made the jump to Brand USA in twenty twenty-four.

Since then, the nation's DMO has seen federal funding slash eighty percent and laid off about fifteen percent of staff.

But Dixon won't be able to shake budget constraints at NYC Tourism.