Expedia News

Competition in the Chinese online travel market is intense these days, and eLong's transition into the highest tier on Nasdaq is just another signal that the business is maturing.

The rules being discussed would apply to Europeans booking rooms in the UK, and the framework would be fairly narrow in scope. They do not address broader rate parity issues, but would indeed provide for more competition and would be good for limited numbers of travelers.

The Travelocity-Expedia deal is widely seen as a way for Travelocity's parent, Sabre Holdings, to trim expenses before a possible IPO in 2014.

Expedia tries to sum its survey with a sunny figure that says 84 percent of passengers believe fellow flyers are considerate, but the excitement around increased in-flight device use suggests most people prefer to fly with as little human contact as necessary.

Now that TripAdvisor is a standalone public company, CEO Steve Kaufer is getting downright candid about the competition. He has lots to say about rivals or would-be rivals, including former parent Expedia, Google, Amazon, Booking.com and Kayak, among others.

HomeAway and vacation rentals in general could really become more disruptive to the hotel industry if HomeAway gets the sort of wide distribution on partner sites that its executives have in mind.

Passports with Purpose and its sponsors can leverage a worldwide network of travel suppliers who want to make a positive impact while also getting a shot at a good trip.

The success of Priceline and Booking.com isn't all about business models and search-engine marketing spend. A good part of the winning formula pertains to a company that eschews PowerPoints, worries about often-overlooked things such as the "cost of coordination" among its brands, and puts effort into maintaining the culture that got it here.

Travel companies slow to set up mobile functionality may be comforted by this news, but mobile usage will only continue to rise due to changing consumer habits and the growth of travel in emerging economies where mobile devices are more common than desktops.