Dennis Schaal

The UK's Office of Fair Trading has made the hotel industry a bit more competitive, but the new rules have their limits. Booking.com and Expedia aren't permitted to advertise discounted rooms to the general public, but will only do so for members of their loyalty programs and other closed groups. Still, it puts hotels at a disadvantage.

Whether or not it plays a central role in reshaping the future of travel, give Amadeus credit for reshaping and repositioning the future of Amadeus. Once primarily a distribution outlet for travel agencies, Amadeus was an early mover into airline IT, and now it is building its hotel tech and search business, as well.

TripIt is doing the right thing for its users by coming up with a work-around to track the loyalty programs of airlines that don't want to be tracked by third parties. Delta, United, Southwest and American are still playing hardball.

Does HotelTonight really provide incremental bookings without detracting from the hotels' own websites and apps? Several big hotel chains and Barry Sternlicht are now on board and apparently believe so. But, what happens down the road when the humble startup gets too powerful? That's something to consider, as well.

In addition to a 50% refund on their cruise fares, the 630 stricken passengers on Royal Caribbean's Explorer of the Seas also get one future cruise day credit for each day they were incarcerated in their cabins. This hardly seems adequate, and Congress should give the cruise industry-written passenger bill of rights the old heave ho.

Although a stretch, GetYourGuide has frequently likened its desire to ramp up and aggregate the most tours and activities it can for each destination to that of Booking.com. Along with the founder of Qunar, GetYourGuide now has a Booking.com veteran, its former CEO, on board to help in the tour and activities company's expansion efforts.

Concur sees itself as reinventing corporate travel, with the rest of the industry following along. The company is indeed doing some transformational things, but the rest of the industry hasn't exactly signed off on it all yet.

NCL is building a big niche with its new Breakaway and Getaway sister ships, but it is tough to compete when larger rivals have the resources to arrive in new destinations first, and with more scale.

With in-flight connectivity and entertainment such a hot commodity, JetBlue could spin off LiveTV or sell it to monetize an asset for its shareholders.

Some may consider JW Marriott a bit stodgy, but the luxury brand knows what it is and who its guests are, and it is busy curating experiences to win their passions. With only 63 hotels currently, and another 35 on the way, JW Marriott must be doing something right.