Startups

Twitter is indeed a news medium the likes of which the world has never seen before, and a Twitter user's tweet about the Miracle on the Hudson is a perfect example of how Twitter is changing the world.

Traxo is one of several mileage-tracking sites that have been temporarily banned by airlines from accessing frequent flyers' account information. Agreements have since restarted the service, but Traxo is still competing in a crowded market.

Perhaps the immediate challenges that TripAdvisor and HomeAway face will be temporary bumps in the road. For Hotwire, it's a toss-up on whether it can get its mojo back, and American Express Global Business Travel and Travelocity have already seen their best days.

Warren's case is not representative of most Airbnb stays in New York City where people are known to run illegal hotels and entire apartments are one of the most common kind of rentals.

In an era when we see so many copycat startups endlessly doing basically the same thing, Liftopia has blazed a (ski) trail, and brought a unique idea to an industry that sorely needed it.

Airbnbs of this and Ubers of that which promise to disrupt are a dime a dozen. Here's hoping for a mix of startups that solve real travel pain points.

If Travefy can find a niche at businesses that are too small for a corporate travel team and too big to go it alone, it may be an attractive purchase for a bigger player like Concur that wants to control business travel.