Dennis Schaal

If publicly traded companies such as Google are bound by fiduciary duties to shareholders, then Google, which already has one of the largest travel businesses in the world, larger than the Priceline Group, TripAdvisor and Ctrip combined, would be foolhardy to shoot its advertising business in the foot to become an online travel agency.

Financial quarters come and go but TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer says he will keep working on its Instant Booking initiative until the company gets it right. Can Kaufer really change consumer behavior and turn hotel-review readers into bookers on TripAdvisor? The sentiment is divided but he certainly is committed to doing so.

Glenn Fogel is the heir apparent, even if he is the first time CEO. Fogel knows the company and the industry's competitive dynamics as well as anyone on earth and played a huge role in getting the Group to the top of the heap.

Google is getting disrupted on a number of fronts and the emergence of Facebook as a viable advertising alternative -- or supplement, actually -- for Expedia and other big travel advertisers is part of it.

Critics of Expedia Inc.'s 2014-2015 acquisition spree appear to have had a valid point: These sorts of mergers and integrations can be very distracting and complex. Expedia has felt the pain now in the second and third quarters and could be in for some more until it get can get things back on course. Expedia's competitors will take advantage.

It's not around the corner but you can expect China's Ctrip to set up shop to compete against online and offline travel giants in the U.S. Breaking in through acquisition would be an obvious strategy although it's unclear whether that's actually part of Ctrip's seemingly very active strategic plan.

Google, in theory, like TripAdvisor, has the ability to put it all together and become a one-stop shop in travel but Oliver Heckmann, who heads Google's travel products, says that isn't part of the search engine's grand scheme. We sort of believe him (stay tuned for more).

With these investments in North America and elsewhere, Ctrip is creating a new online travel agency model. It's one that goes beyond merely booking trips but guaranteeing service levels once travelers arrive abroad.

OpenTable is upping its language skills, although it still is in the early stages of making its restaurant relationships more global.

Vacation rental owners and property managers are using technology solutions to mitigate their risks in an era when they face the prospect of getting pushed into irrelevancy by the large distribution platforms if they don't agree to instantly confirmable bookings. Buck the instant booking trend? The penalty is seeing their listings drop toward the bottom of the heap.