Dennis' Online Travel Briefing

Trivago is changing its brand marketing approach to abolish the Mr. and Ms. Trivago cult of personality. Instead Trivago is trying to establish deep emotional connections with viewers. TV will still be important despite the digital surge in consumer preferences, and in Trivago's calculations, YouTube is not a particularly effective option.

Direct-booking advocates in the short-term rental space will face tough going long term because they have to deal with plenty of juggernauts. When the travel recovery gets under way in full, it will be Airbnb, Booking.com and Expedia spending billions of dollars to win over fickle, bargain-hungry travelers.

The online travel industry focuses on every move or utterance from Airbnb and its CEO Brian Chesky. Not that Booking Holdings is an after-thought these days, but before Airbnb there was Priceline, Booking.com, and the Group's boss, Jeffery Boyd. Building blocks, certainly.

Airbnb officials fell in love with the perceived artistry of their TV commercials, which don't have a targeted message. That could produce aftershocks later this year if rivals take advantage.

Running an airline isn't easy, and neither is launching ridesharing, financial services, and delivery businesses from scratch. AirAsia has its work cut out for it in terms of the required investments and trying to be everything to everyone in Southeast Asian markets with entrenched incumbents.

The impact of Airbnb's new ad campaign seems to be underwhelming to date. But if the idea is to broaden awareness about hosting, Airbnb may be willing to play the long game.

Airbnb's stealthy financing and leadership of supposedly grassroots host clubs around the world to pursue the short-term rental giant's advocacy agenda may be an effective tactic, but it furthers a false narrative about the nature of the company, and it is a blotch on its reputation.

Airbnb will spend tens of millions of dollars, if not more, on its global advertising and referral campaigns to recruit more hosts, and that's probably a smart move. On the face of it, though, this proves that the company's host sign-up efforts are hardly organic, as one analyst alleged.

At a time when a travel operator like Expedia Group is shedding brands to become more focused, private equity firm Certares is investing in a broad array of travel assets. Divergent strategies for two very different companies. Certares' goal is likely to wrangle synergies while making a ton of money.

New data from AirDNA show that corporate hosts wield huge power on Airbnb's platform despite the fact that individual hosts make up more than 90 percent of hosting's ranks. Airbnb is empowering the growth of these property managers, but the result could be disenchanted hosts and guests.