Dennis Schaal

Vayant could one day be absorbed into Lufthansa, but until that happens it would have to convince its other airline partners that it isn't in Lufthansa's pocket.

The Priceline Group and OpenTable wanted to sweep away these pesky shareholder lawsuits to get on with the task at hand -- closing the acquisition. In reaching a settlement, OpenTable had to open the curtain a bit more into how it went about conducting the sale process.

Regardless of what their companies want, lots of road warriors are booking their hotels and flights on leisure travel sites, and hotel-metasearch sites, if they develop certain tracking and reporting tools, could one day play an even larger role in business travel.

If the Priceline.com survey on mobile booking patterns is to be believed, then apps such as HotelTonight, which streamline mobile bookings into a handful of taps, could make mobile bookings safer if they reduce users' bumps and falls.

King James giveth and King James taketh, and now LeBron James giveth to Cleveland tourism and basketball once again.

Lyft's launch was unsustainable in light of the TLC's vow to start seizing drivers' cars and to levy heavy fines. Now the two sides will have to see if they can work out a compromise that would bring Lyft to the streets of New York.

Business travel-oriented companies, including American Express, Carlson Wagonlit Travel, BCD Travel and HRG, are not as large as leisure-oriented Expedia and Priceline, but the business travel agencies are entrenched near the top of the heap, and they aren't going anywhere in the short term.

Olacabs hasn't been transparent about the amount of its prior funding rounds.

Groupon's launch of tonight-only hotel deals in its mobile apps isn't exactly the "shot heard 'round the world," but Groupon has the audience and scale to do some damage.

The Concur-United partnership should enable heretofore rogue business travelers to book their flights on United.com, as a leisure traveler would, and still make their employers happy by getting their corporate discounts.