Things may be looking up for SeaWorld on paper, but whether or not it returns to its former strengths has more to do with changing consumer sentiment than competition or its own marketing efforts.
TV advertising by online travel agencies has been very much in vogue over the last couple of years. But TripAdvisor decided it doesn't need it for now and instead is going to take its new partnership with Booking.com and run with that instead.
Wall Street is buying up HomeAway's stock with the thinking that a new bidding war with Expedia could take hold, but that's unlikely. From HomeAway CEO Brian Sharples' comments, it seems likely that some kind of sales process -- and obviously a serious vetting of the deal -- already took place.
For financial, online travel nerds and human resources nerds, here's all the fine print that's seen the light of day so far about then Expedia-HomeAway merger.