Booking Sites

China Online Travel Faces Unprecedented Regulation

Bloomberg

Chinese online travel may be imperiled from increasing regulation as well as the trade war and aggressive rhetoric between the U.S. and China. On the other hand, the Chinese middle class will not be denied; their passports are ready.

Expedia Wants to Become More Locally Relevant Worldwide

Sean O'Neill, Skift

Rather than push Expedia Group to expand horizontally, CEO Mark Okerstrom has been focused in the past year on improving the company's execution in several key markets with its existing brands and loyal customers. The effort to consolidate gains makes intuitive sense.

Airbnb Clone Wimdu to Close Despite Having Raised More Than $90 Million

Sean O'Neill, Skift

One ripple effect of startups like Airbnb raising enormous sums of funding is that it has become harder for smaller rivals to clone their models elsewhere in the world. While clones get a bad name, they do provide benefits to consumers in added competition.

Behind TripAdvisor’s Renewed Push to Inspire Travelers Beyond Just Making Sales

Sean O'Neill, Skift

TripAdvisor is notable for having a large audience of consumers looking for ideas about where to go and stay and what to do once they're there. It's sensible that the company is adding features to bolster that edge over its transaction-focused rivals — as long as the company doesn't neglect transactions.

Google’s Conflicted Travel Strategy Pushes Forward

Andrew Sheivachman, Skift

Google has developed solid travel booking and itinerary management tools, but won't push fully into the online travel booking business because of its lucrative role in online advertising. It looks like Google's bifurcated travel strategy will continue for some time.

How Booking Holdings Is Plotting the Next Decade of Online Travel Innovation

Andrew Sheivachman, Skift

The Booking Holdings CEO is taking the long view, which can be difficult for the leader of a public company to accomplish while growing stock value. The opportunity is there, though, for the online booking leader to improve its offerings with data-based personalization.

Alibaba Helps U.S. Cities With Mobile Payments for Chinese Tourism Wave

Dan Peltier, Skift

The trick to getting more U.S. businesses to invest in mobile payments will be to convince them that more demand will also soon come from U.S. travelers, who are still largely cash and card-carrying consumers for now.

TripAdvisor’s Professional Content and 13 Other Digital Trends This Week

Sarah Enelow-Snyder, Skift

This week in digital news, we have two stories on developments at TripAdvisor. The long-trusted site is now leaning toward content created by professionals, and offering a personalized recommendation feed.

Booking Holdings’ Agoda Takes a Distinctive Approach on Short-Term Rentals

Dan Peltier, Skift

Expedia Believes Tech Is Key to Helping Travelers Plan the Perfect Vacation

Hannah Sampson , Skift

How can companies use technology to make the perfect recommendations for travelers? That's what everyone is trying to figure out.

Meituan’s Hong Kong IPO May Intensify Its Rivalry With Ctrip

Sean O'Neill, Skift

China's travel market is fast-growing enough that it could support a competitor to current leader Ctrip. That day may arrive soon, too, given that Meituan-Dianping is showing surprising traction in hotel booking.

MakeMyTrip and Despegar Make Localization a Key Competitive Advantage

Seth Borko, Skift Research

Does Expedia or Booking have the energy to launch their booking apps in four local Indian dialects? Maybe not, but MakeMyTrip does, and that local effort matters.