Dennis Schaal

Gogobot likely paid some big bucks for the Trip.com domain, and it is making strides with a high-quality recommendation app. Still, everyone in the travel space, especially startups, is feeling like they are running uphill as Google tosses boulders downward. Slow, steady steps may win the day.

To her male peers at Priceline, Expedia and TripAdvisor -- watch out. Ctrip and Sun are trending and are looking to take generous helpings of your market share.

HomeAway president John Kim, after a manner, is trying to turn HomeAway into the type of company that Airbnb is -- one that is focused on technology improvements and a great user experience. In many ways, Kim has the tougher job. He isn't starting from scratch, as Airbnb did, but is attempting to spur changes in a company that has been around since 2005 and grew through a flurry of acquisitions.

With Lola's acquisition of Room 77's metasearch tech, Room 77 essentially becomes a consumer insights and hotel search test lab for Lola. Room 77's original founders have essentially exited the business: Google licensed its tech and hired the bulk of its employees, Expedia acquired Room 77's pioneering room-view tech, TrustYou bought Room 77's Checkmate hotel-messaging app, and now Lola picked up the remaining technology.

Google may not be on the road toward becoming an online travel agency, but the search engine is inserting itself more aggressively in the travel research and hotel-shopping process.

TripAdvisor stated earlier this year that its transition to transactions, or Instant Booking, would show progress in the second half of 2016. There is indeed a morsel of progress but not enough to satisfy investors and other critics.

There have long been rumblings that the OpenTable acquisition was problematic for the Priceline Group. Now we learn the depth of the problem -- a $941 million impairment charge.

Booking.com, which does more than 1,000 A/B tests daily, is testing a rewards program for business travelers, but CEO Gillian Tans still believes that true loyalty is more about delivering its core product for customers than points and rewards schemes.

Restaurants and other in-destination experiences for locals and travelers will play an increasingly important role in TripAdvisor's future over the next few years. They enable TripAdvisor to diversify away from casual leisure travelers toward restaurant and tour patrons who might book way more frequently.

Booking.com displaced Southwest's long-time hotel partner, Orbitz, on Southwest.com. Booking.com's pay-at-the-hotel system meshes much better with Southwest's flexible fare structure than did Orbitz's preponderous hotel bookings requiring prepayment. Booking.com's integration of its Rocketmiles acquisition on Southwest now makes total sense.