Dennis Schaal

Will hotel websites become the dominant distribution channel for hotels by 2030, leaving online travel agencies behind? It could certainly happen. However, there are reasons that scenario might not take place. Let's discuss this again in five years.

Years ago, it appeared as though Expedia Group would be a likely buyer of Despegar since Expedia had taken a significant minority stake in the company. But Expedia backed away, and now Prosus is claiming the prize.

Scott Schenkel gets the number 2 job at Expedia Group, and he'll be a key player in the turnaround.

Fairly founder and CEO Eric Breon is getting a do-over of sorts when it comes to what he helped build earlier as the founder and CEO of Vacasa. The test will be whether he can scale Fairly's business and make it more responsive to the needs of homeowners and guests.

With the deal, Tripadvisor's decisions no longer have to go through Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings. Tripadvisor gets freedom to consider other deals, and gains new flexibility.

Airbnb is the only short-term rental platform we know of that is publicly taking on the issue, engaging in partnerships and sharing data on its performance.

Booking Holdings resumed hiring fairly aggressively after the pandemic, but is now trimming its workforce as part of a plan to get a handle on costs. A major part of the reorganization is to figure out the best areas for investment.

As regulators on two continents bear down on Google, the company faces real competition for the first time in eons.

What if market analytics firm CoStar launched a property management system for hotels? That's the play that AirDNA is making in the short-term rentals industry. AirDNA will go at it with its own data analytics brand as well as its Uplifting brand in the PMS arena.

As Booking Holdings resets its investment priorities in the AI era, its business-to-business services, which Expedia has far outpaced, won't likely be high on the list. What's next?