Sean O'Neill

After years of being stuck in the past, new "smart" airports are embracing technology and data to improve the experience for both passengers and vendors. But progress is still slow, widening the gap between cutting-edge and archaic facilities. What's needed? More vision, less bureaucracy.

This week, travel startups Travelio, Refundit, and Nowaday together announced more than $31 million in funding. Of particular note is Amadeus' backing of Refundit. The startup offers visitors to European Union countries a mobile app to speed up their claims for rebates for value-added taxes paid on retail shopping.

Trivago's incoming CEO Axel Hefer signaled Thursday that the company would change its auctions to appeal more to advertisers. Most promising is how it will now let Booking.com and other advertisers bid for different types of customers for essentially the first time.

IHG represents a broader industry trend in that it's getting tougher with online travel agencies and wholesalers in the West while becoming more experimental with online travel sellers in Asia, where it needs help to grow its sales. Its use of new technologies to try to keep its strategy coordinated and to boost revenue are eye-catching.

Former Delta CEO Richard Anderson has been spearheading a revamp of the U.S. national railway through boosting safety, driving more profits from its co-branded credit card, and creating a mix of more low-cost and premium services in the U.S. northeastern corridor. Anderson's tricky balance is being ambitious while trimming longstanding losses.

This week, travel startups announced more than $60 million in funding for a business travel management agency, a sightseeing and experiences agency, a white-label travel insurance provider, a short-term rental manager that uses master leases in Asia, and a student travel service.

A few months ago, activist investor Elliott Management took Amadeus rival Travelport private. Elliott also happens to be the largest shareholder of Whitbread, the parent company of Premier Inn. That hotel chain has now dropped its contract with Amadeus for software services. Coincidence?

Tech provider SiteMinder is the latest firm to make it easier for smaller hotels to adopt new tools from other third-party vendors to manage their properties. The trend could give the little guys more weaponry in online sales — and help SiteMinder become more valuable for hotels.

This week, travel startups announced more than $437 million in funding. Blockchain-based identify management, hospitality worker recruitment, airline distribution, attractions ticketing, and short-term rental property management were some of the hot concepts attracting investors.

To paraphrase Sabre executives, airlines in North America are too fat and happy to be bothered to mimic the experiments with direct distribution happening in Europe. They're probably calling that right.