Startups

The best? "Tripadvisor for everything." Why think small, right?

An airline can mean jobs and economic vitality for a community, and Virginia cities and counties are providing financial support to get the iconic brand, People Express, flying again, this time from Newport News-Williamsburg Airport.

Known for its user reviews, TripAdvisor is getting further into hotel transactions through its Tingo site. Adding room upgrades as a possibility for guests is a nice twist, and it is probably being welcomed by hotels, as well.

For all its problems, Jetsetter is a market leader in hotel flash sales, and an acquisition at a bargain-rate sale price could help TripAdvisor inject some life into SniqueAway.

Critics have long charged that Groupon is not a sustainable business. That's because Groupon tends to turn off merchants because Groupon's cut of sales is so huge. Groupon's decision to take a diminished slice amount to a recognition that the critics were right to a certain extent.

Brockway will likely find out that his flirtation with a business outside the travel industry was a flight of fancy. We like his criteria for starting a new business though -- think big.

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.

Travel innovation is everywhere, just don't look for it exclusively in travel startup or tech world.

From Groupon to Travelzoo and LivingSocial, the bloom is long off the rose in the daily deals space for travel and beyond. Amazon, which is an investor in LivingSocial, reports that LivingSocial recorded a $905 million operating loss in 2012.

Pinterest is now valued at $2.5 billion, but it seems like its buzz factor in travel has toned down over the last year or so.