Booking’s Credit Card, Marriott’s Slower Growth and Spain’s Rental Crackdown

Your morning news podcast looks at Booking.com’s first credit card, Marriott’s slower performance, and Spain’s crackdown on outlaw short-term rentals.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Wednesday, August 6. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Booking.com has soft-launched its first credit card in the U.S., the Booking.com Genius Rewards Visa Signature Credit Card, reports Executive Editor Dennis Schaal.

Schaal writes the rewards card should help Booking.com increase direct bookings and build its U.S. business. The card issues travel credits instead of offering points and miles, common with airline and hotel co-branded cards.

Cardholders would receive 6% in travel credits for hotels and short-term rental stays booked via the Booking.com app, and 5% on all other travel purchased on Booking.com.

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Next, Marriott has trimmed its full-year forecast after a sluggish second quarter, writes Senior Hospitality Editor Sean O’Neill.

The company’s overall global growth for revenue per available room was only 1.5% while it was flat in the U.S. and Canada. O’Neill notes Marriott’s main drag was a weak U.S., which was partly the result of uncertainty from the Trump tariffs and partly because of when Easter fell this year. Marriott also saw a drop in government travel.

Marriott now projects between 1.5% and 2.5% revenue per available room growth for the full year, down from its previous forecast of up to 3.5% growth.

Finally, Spanish authorities are preparing to delist thousands of unregistered short-term rentals, writes Contributor Ian Mount.

Spain’s housing ministry will soon enforce a 2024 law requiring all short-term rentals to display a unique rental registration number. Properties that don’t comply will be removed from major platforms like Airbnb. The first listings will be removed from platforms in mid-August after property owners are given a 10-day grace period to appeal.

Mount notes that many owners appear to have delayed applying for their rental registration number until the last minute, creating processing backlogs.

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