Deanna Ting

We can only imagine what Anbang and its investor group, as well as Starwood, must be thinking right now.

With its multi-million-dollar investments in Onefinestay, Oasis Collections, and Squarebreak, AccorHotels is taking a smart, strategic approach to battling the encroachment of home-sharing platforms like Airbnb and HomeAway by embracing their direct competitors.

As outsiders looking in, the bidding war between Anbang and Marriott for Starwood played out like a soap opera. But for Starwood employees, the drama taking place was very real, and the outcome will have a very direct impact on their futures.

Cracking down on Airbnb "Super Hosts," or those who use the platform on a "professional" full-time basis to operate illegal hotels, is becoming a serious hot button issue. If Airbnb wants to become more widely accepted, it has to assure local and state governments that its platform isn't becoming a front for illegal hotels.

We're going to miss the drama Anbang brought to what we all assumed would be your standard merger/acquisition between Starwood and Marriott. Instead, what we got was a story the likes of which the travel industry has rarely seen before.

Anbang very well could have afforded to buy Starwood, and the threat of an Anbang takeover was "very real" for Marriott. We probably haven't seen the last of Anbang. But for whatever reason, Anbang is no longer in the picture, and Marriott and Starwood can now continue to form the world's largest hotel company. Let's see how it goes.

A "roller coaster ride" is definitely one way to describe it.

In a drama where the unexpected was always expected, this latest development certainly delivered. Let's see what happens next.

Being able to include Additional Hosts for a single listing makes a lot of sense in many cases, but we wonder if this feature could also make it easier for so-called "professional hosts" or commercial operators to manage their multiple listings on the platform as well.

Fairmont's new report confirms what we as travelers have always felt about staying in an iconic, historic hotel — that it's something you'll always remember. Smart travel brands and marketers would do well to leverage those emotional ties.