Travel Industry Earnings Coverage

Hotels are ambitiously opening new rooms, entering new markets, and increasing rates in order to take advantage of growing outbound travel, however, their growth should be tempered by memories of what too much supply and too little demand felt like during the downturn.

There indeed is magic in the MyMagic+ wristbands for The Walt Disney Co. as it is making for a more efficient operation and is helping to increase visitor spending. Abracadabra.

American and US Airways reacted fairly quickly to the competitive threat from the low cost carriers, but this battle will be ongoing in 2015.

Delta is certainly feeling its oats these days with a windfall from the drop in fuel prices and its top-performing stock. No need right now to make any concessions on fares or to pay lip service to distribution through online travel agencies.

Having seen airline fashion icons go bust, we warm to an airline smart enough to go classic.  

Qunar is the fastest growing online travel company by far among the Big Three in China, although it is less than half the size of industry leader Ctrip. Can Qunar keep it up? Ctrip is feeling the pressure and is having to dial back on profits to ensure it will stay on top.

For chains such as Hilton Worldwide, which attract their share of business travelers, figuring out a way to fill rooms on the weekends is a constant challenge. Hilton is making progress, though, and perhaps the trend of road warriors tacking on leisure trips could be a contributing factor.

The Priceline Group is moving much closer to Ctrip with a minority stake and CEO Darren Huston points to a series of additional moves in China in the next few years. Ctrip, though, hasn't always played well with other partners so it remains to be seen whether familial relations between these new second cousins will be long-standing.

Priceline outlasted Expedia in the room-night growth arms race, posting 32% growth to Expedia's 24%. Although there was a slight dent in the armor, as Priceline room-night growth was slightly faster a year earlier.

Travelocity talked years ago about getting into the advertising and media business in a big way, but never made it happen. But, now Expedia has grand plans to use Travelocity's North America sites as a platform to expanding Expedia's own advertising and media business in tandem with the jolt that Trivago is already providing.