Dennis Schaal

If everything is about "local" in the hotel business these days, this development project in Bothell, Washington, is the epitome of such efforts.

Expedia and TripAdvisor have subsidiaries in China, Priceline has gone the partnership route with Ctrip, and now Orbitz Worldwide wants to get in on the action in a more meaningful way through its HotelClub subsidiary. HotelClub will have to do some heavy lifting in China, which is a coupling, discounting and highly competitive market.

TAM says it is adding 750 flights for the World Cup, and an additional 1,000 temporary workers to accommodate all of those soccer fans. The airline has had two years to plan for the World Cup, and for many passengers TAM will be their all-important introduction to Brazil and the championship. Let the flights and games begin.

Elite travelers and big spenders will continue to relish their loyalty awards, but airlines may win even more loyal flyers when carriers sell them subscriptions for preferred seats and other perks.

Malaysia Airlines reportedly has taken some unspecified steps to enhance security onboard its flights. This likely won't do much to change Qunar's stance in the short term until the cause of MH370's disappearance has been detailed.

Is it a red flag or prudent strategy that Hot Hotels has raised just $1 million in its more than two years of existence? If it really wants to expand into Latin America, Hot Hotels will probably need more muscle than this.

There's lots of goodwill around Brand USA, but that could quickly dissipate if the marketing organization continues to take credit for others' work in an attempt to win new funding from Congress.

InterContinental Hotels is savvy to recognize that it needs to go beyond the low-hanging fruit of converting lookers into bookers, and needs to be involved in earlier and later phases of the guest journey. Amadeus has experience with some of these things on the airline side of things, but it remains to be seen how effective it will translate into hotels.

Tourism boards come in all shapes and sizes with vastly different marketing budgets. If Arrivalist can help them make a more precise assessment of the impact of their advertising spend, then that is a step forward. There will be lots more competition in this sector as more companies mine the possibilities of location-based data.

It was careless for Expedia previously to claim it was the globe's biggest travel site. You'd think it would have been more precise about its boasts, and in its latest ads it narrows its claim and documents it. TripAdvisor assuredly is happier now.