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This practice really doesn't seem so "out of the box." Haven't hotel loyalty programs been doing this for years? And airlines and online travel agencies do likewise.

Starwood believes the timing is right to get out of the real estate business to a great extent as it joins Marriott and InterContinental in focusing on management fees as the more stable and lucrative revenue stream.

Airports, like airlines, have quickly caught on to the customer service uses of Twitter and, in the process, have discovered a personality that furthers their mission of becoming destinations in their own right.

All these hotel groups are now talking about becoming brands and management companies instead of owning these assets, at least in U.S. and Europe, and will be interesting to see how that plays out over next few years.

This is a clear win for the Frommer name and what the brand means to the people who made it the best-selling series in the U.S. and one of the most visited destination websites. But it also raises more concerns about Google's stubborn commitment to its Google+ product despite the clear lack of user interest.

Kayak is anxiously awaiting its move into the Priceline fold, and toward the end of the year will have to renegotiate its contract with ITA Software/Google for airfare data.

Carnival Corp. didn't make any concessions in its letter to Senator Rockefeller, arguing that the cruise industry already pays plenty of taxes. Don't expect Carnival to reimburse the U.S. government for its costs in the Triumph incident, although the amount of money would be puny for a corporation of Carnival's size.

TripAdvisor's Kaufer can be testy, but he's apparently happiest when testing a new product, and following the company's mantra, "speed wins." Discount restaurant vouchers via mobile devices are somewhere on TripAdvisor's busy agenda.

Air passenger rights have attracted much attention and lawmaking in recent years while bus travel was largely overlooked. Its rebound in popularity is already bringing consumers’ issues to the forefront.

A crew that feels it looks good is always going to perform better than one that feels it is stuck in last decade's closet. Just ask the high-flying, well-dressed men and women of Virgin's airlines.