diff --git a/.travis.yml b/.travis.yml
index 4aa74c6cde..6a778cf747 100644
--- a/.travis.yml
+++ b/.travis.yml
@@ -6,13 +6,16 @@ before_install:
   - rvm use 1.9.3 --fuzzy
   - export GEMDIR=$(rvm gemdir)
   - if [ "$TWBS_TEST" = validate-html ]; then echo "ruby=$(basename $GEMDIR) jekyll=$JEKYLL_VERSION" > pseudo_Gemfile.lock; fi
+  - "export TRAVIS_COMMIT_MSG=\"$(git log --format=%B --no-merges -n 1)\""
+  - echo "$TRAVIS_COMMIT_MSG" | grep '\[skip validator\]'; export TWBS_DO_VALIDATOR=$?; true
+  - echo "$TRAVIS_COMMIT_MSG" | grep '\[skip sauce\]'; export TWBS_DO_SAUCE=$?; true
 install:
   - time npm install -g grunt-cli
   - ./test-infra/s3_cache.py download npm-modules
-  - if [ "$TWBS_TEST" = validate-html ]; then ./test-infra/s3_cache.py download rubygems; fi
+  - if [ "$TWBS_TEST" = validate-html ] && [ $TWBS_DO_VALIDATOR -ne 0 ]; then ./test-infra/s3_cache.py download rubygems; fi
 after_script:
   - if [ "$TWBS_TEST" = core ]; then ./test-infra/s3_cache.py upload npm-modules; fi
-  - if [ "$TWBS_TEST" = validate-html ]; then ./test-infra/s3_cache.py upload rubygems; fi
+  - if [ "$TWBS_TEST" = validate-html ] && [ $TWBS_DO_VALIDATOR -ne 0 ]; then ./test-infra/s3_cache.py upload rubygems; fi
 env:
   global:
     - JEKYLL_VERSION: 1.5.0
diff --git a/Gruntfile.js b/Gruntfile.js
index 1373e3e1b2..2c33b474ec 100644
--- a/Gruntfile.js
+++ b/Gruntfile.js
@@ -401,20 +401,31 @@ module.exports = function (grunt) {
   // Docs HTML validation task
   grunt.registerTask('validate-html', ['jekyll', 'validation']);
 
+  var runSubset = function (subset) {
+    return !process.env.TWBS_TEST || process.env.TWBS_TEST === subset;
+  };
+  var isUndefOrNonZero = function (val) {
+    return val === undefined || val !== '0';
+  };
+
   // Test task.
   var testSubtasks = [];
   // Skip core tests if running a different subset of the test suite
-  if (!process.env.TWBS_TEST || process.env.TWBS_TEST === 'core') {
+  if (runSubset('core')) {
     testSubtasks = testSubtasks.concat(['dist-css', 'csslint', 'jshint', 'jscs', 'qunit', 'build-customizer-html']);
   }
   // Skip HTML validation if running a different subset of the test suite
-  if (!process.env.TWBS_TEST || process.env.TWBS_TEST === 'validate-html') {
+  if (runSubset('validate-html') &&
+      // Skip HTML5 validator on Travis when [skip validator] is in the commit message
+      isUndefOrNonZero(process.env.TWBS_DO_VALIDATOR)) {
     testSubtasks.push('validate-html');
   }
   // Only run Sauce Labs tests if there's a Sauce access key
   if (typeof process.env.SAUCE_ACCESS_KEY !== 'undefined' &&
       // Skip Sauce if running a different subset of the test suite
-      (!process.env.TWBS_TEST || process.env.TWBS_TEST === 'sauce-js-unit')) {
+      runSubset('sauce-js-unit') &&
+      // Skip Sauce on Travis when [skip sauce] is in the commit message
+      isUndefOrNonZero(process.env.TWBS_DO_SAUCE)) {
     testSubtasks.push('connect');
     testSubtasks.push('saucelabs-qunit');
   }