Airbnb Gets Flexible, Delta Revises Forecast, Marriott Goes Net-Zero

To finish the week, we look at Airbnb’s new guest-friendly policies, Delta’s sunnier outlook, and Marriott’s net-zero effort.

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Airbnb is introducing a series of guest-friendly cancellation policies on October 1 that may get pushback from some hosts, writes Executive Editor Dennis Schaal.

Airbnb is migrating hosts that have so-called Strict cancellation policies to Firm policies, which are more flexible for guests. Under the Strict policy, guests could only cancel within 48 hours after a booking to receive a full refund. The new Firm policies enable guests to cancel and get full refunds until 30 days before check-in.

In addition, for stays of fewer than 28 nights, guests will have a 24-hour cancellation grace period – provided the stay is confirmed at least seven days before check-in.

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Next, Delta Air Lines said Thursday it’s going back to giving an outlook for 2025 – its new forecast is lower than it was in January, but higher than feared, writes Airlines Reporter Meghna Maharishi.

CEO Ed Bastian said during a call with analysts that the company’s core customer is in good financial shape, even as the airline sees weakness in demand from its most price-sensitive passengers in the main cabin. Premium revenues outpaced main cabin revenues during the quarter, growing 5% compared to last year.

Delta had pulled its full-year outlook in April due to the growing economic uncertainty from the Trump administration’s tariff policy.

Delta said its loyalty revenue was up 8%, which the carrier attributed to co-branded card spending and card acquisitions.

Finally, Marriott has broken ground on the first net-zero emissions hotel under its brand. But Climate Reporter Darin Graham writes the loss of federal tax credits for renewable energy sources will make reaching net-zero goals challenging for hotel companies.

The 115-room Sugar House Hotel in Winooski, Vermont is scheduled to open in 2026 and will rely entirely on electricity. Doug Nedde, a developer whose company owns the hotel, said there are no fossil fuels in the building at all. Marriott aims to cut its emissions to nearly zero by 2050.

However, Nedde said the Trump administration’s sweeping new budget law will dismantle many of the tax incentives that have made clean energy projects possible. Nedde added the Sugar House Hotel would not have been built without assistance from the federal government.

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