Expedia News

A nationwide tax U.S. is an idea that will never happen, but booking sites would love to have some overall clarity on taxation, even if it costs users a bit more on each booking.

The author points out an often-overlooked fact that Priceline/Booking.com may now be putting pressure on Expedia and Orbitz in a mature market, the U.S., with the Booking.com advertising campaign that began earlier this year. Hotwire is already engaged in an offline advertising blitz to answer Priceline's inroads, and Booking.com's campaign makes things even testier.

Expedia Traveler Preference is a win for travelers and hotels, although Expedia will have to figure out if incremental bookings it receives will make up for the pay-at-hotel revenue hit. Meanwhile, Priceline reports that Expedia's program is still so small that Priceline hasn't really felt an impact.

It’s not surprising that consumers prefer digitally native booking and review apps to those of airlines and hotels, but online websites remain the most trusted and accessed platform for travelers.

Ask anyone who the most successful investor in travel is, and they'll talk about Joel Cutler of General Catalyst Partners. But, when it comes to individual investors, this gang of five has a lot of experience and is pretty good. None are infallible, of course, but this is where a lot of the smart money is.

TripAdvisor's key competitor is Google, and it's somewhat surprising that Kaufer cites former parent Expedia as a threat. Notice how Samsung edges its way into the conversation, as well.

On a logical basis, TripAdvisor might be sitting in an advantageous position as Priceline-Kayak and Expedia-Trivago battle it out. But, there's always the chance that Priceline and Expedia may not follow the script.

Consumers have more options than ever before from fresh-faced startups to familiar search engines so despite OTAs’ legacy in the industry, they’ll have to keep innovating to keep up with the competition.