Dennis Schaal

A lot of things are falling into place for HomeAway, and now it is set to really build a brand.

The all-powerful TripAdvisor has been unable to convince its largest online travel agency partners to facilitate hotel bookings right within TripAdvisor apps. Oh, to be a fly on the wall for those conversations.

Both TripAdvisor and the Pricelne Group plan to feast on the mobile and global expansion of their dining reservations capabilities.

Deem, formerly known as Rearden Commerce, got burned in its foray into financial services sector, and is now drilling down in its core business.

If greed is good in the movies, cheap is good at CheapTickets, which is seeking to target extremely price-focused consumers. Whether its rates will be cheaper than those on Orbitz is another question.

The entrance of Airbnb, TripAdvisor and HomeAway into the ranks of the heretofore online travel agency-dominated Travel Technology Association is a sign of the sharing-economy times, and will give the newbies added clout when the butt heads with local regulators.

If Fred Reid, the founding CEO of Virgin America, is to be believed, then a radically new passenger experience would have more to do with employee attitudes and technology than seat pitch and armrests. Such a cultural revolution at legacy airlines is one big nut to crack.

GetGoing found a crowded field in consumer travel, wisely privoted toward B2B, but now has to prove that its corporate-booking tool is truly different from those of more-established competitors.

A metasearch-like advertisement on an online travel agency site isn't going to get anywhere near the the sort of clout that sites such as TripAdvisor, Google and Kayak can wield, but it enables OTA sites to get into metasearch in a modest way to appease consumers' inclination to comparison-shop without taking a lot of the risk.

Momondo officials are quick to point out that the Momondo Group is doing well, is seeking an investment, and that retaining strategic advisors is not a sign of weakness, but such a motivation is not out of the question when any company mulls strategic alternatives.