Trivago’s Non-Acquisition Strategy and 5 Other Digital Trends This Week

Throughout the week we post dozens of original stories, connecting the dots across the travel industry, and every weekend we sum it all up. This weekend roundup examines digital trends.

For all of our weekend roundups, go here.

>>Mondee, a travel technology company in California, paid $2.89 million for the Fly.com domain name, according to our sources. But the story behind this secretive company is also a broader tale about private equity, ethnic travel, and how airlines distribute their lowest-priced tickets: Fly.com Buyers Reluctantly Identified as Owners of Airfare Wholesaler Mondee

>>If you think metasearch revolutionized the act of shopping for travel, wait until these sites truly harness all the data out there: 5 Takeaways on the Future of Travel Search and Booking

>>Trivago is hotel-only and is focused on growing its own brand without the headaches of trying to figure out what to do with an additional brand. Trivago isn't talking about it, but would gladly leave it to Kayak to try to determine what to do with multiple brands such as Momondo and Cheapflights: Don’t Look for Trivago to Jump on the Metasearch Buying Spree

>>For years, Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia's HomeAway, and TripAdvisor have been scrambling for market share in vacation rentals to drive consolidation. But TripAdvisor says it is now focused on "quality" listings, rather than quantity: Vacation Rentals Are a Bright Spot at TripAdvisor

>>About 32 million people attend at least one festival in the U.S. each year, traveling an average of 900 miles to attend one. Everfest has a promising model to profit off this trade: Online Festivals Hub Everfest Raises $3.6 Million: Travel Startup Funding This Week

>>Kayak's new ad blitz isn't the world's most political ad campaign but it is still good to see a company unafraid of standing up for what it believes in: New Kayak Ad Campaign Wants to Bring Europeans Forward, Not Backwards