U.S. Lobbying Roundup: Which Travel Companies Spent the Most

With Donald Trump back in the White House and a new GOP-controlled Congress, the travel industry has no choice but to keep spending.

Many prominent travel and tourism industry interests increased their spending on federal-level lobbying during early 2025, coinciding with Donald Trump’s return to the White House and a new Congress controlled by Republicans.

A Skift analysis of new federal lobbying disclosure documents posted Tuesday shows that most of the nation’s biggest airlines, hotels, travel service companies and associated trade associations maintained six- or seven-figure lobbying expenditures during the first quarter of 2025.

This government influence spending, which includes money spent on both in-house and for-hire lobbyists in Washington, D.C., comes at a time of turbulence for the travel and tourism industry, which is experiencing or anticipating significant changes to federal aviation, immigration, visa, labor, tariff, and taxation policies.

Among the notable revelations from the new lobbying records:

Hotels and Lodging: Marriott, Hilton, Airbnb, and MGM Resorts all registered lobbying spending increases during the first quarter versus the first quarter of 2024, as well as the first quarters of 2021 (President Joe Biden’s first months in the White House) and 2017 (Trump’s first months of his first term).

Marriott’s $640,000 first quarter lobbying expenditure is well