Deanna Ting

The beauty of Ennismore's flagship brand, The Hoxton hotels, is how it distills what the original boutique hotel pioneers did, but makes it relevant to today's audiences on a more equitable, democratic scale. CEO Sharan Pasricha's approach to hospitality — an outsider's perspective, if you will — is equally refreshing.

Can Greeley do for Airbnb Homes what he did with Amazon Prime? And if yes, is that, ultimately, a good thing? Is his appointment a sign that Airbnb is moving even further away from hospitality and gravitating that much closer to just being like any other massive online travel giant?

When will the other big hotel companies like Marriott and Hilton begin to take the sharing economy more seriously?

For the hotel industry, shopping for new brands and other companies to buy up is always in season.

Oh, how times have changed. Instead of feeling threatened by Airbnb, some hotels are being wooed by the company. Online travel agencies, on the other hand, are about to get a taste of what it feels like to be disrupted by the likes of Airbnb.

Can such a thing as a boutique or lifestyle casino resort with nearly 3,000 rooms actually work? We'll find out soon.

In which we try to make some sense out of what we know Airbnb is doing now — and what it hopes to be doing over the next 10 years.

To be honest, we weren't very surprised by Thursday's launches. In fact, we wondered why they haven't been launched sooner. But for the most part, all of them certainly seem in step with Airbnb's plans for being much more than just about any other travel brand or company out there.

If there's anything for other businesses to learn about this snafu, it's this: Don't mess with China.

Sorry, Airbnb. Those who follow the vacation rental business closely had a hunch that the business would be gobbled up by private equity and they were right.