Dennis Schaal

If Google is using the "wisdom of the crowds" to determine how it arranges restaurant information in search results then in a lot of ways it believes professional reviews, and especially those from its Zagat franchise, trump user reviews. But when it gets down to displaying the text of diners' reviews, Google unfairly believes that its own consumer reviews are the fairest of them all.

In online travel and the lodging industry, as well as politics, astute observers follow the money. As it is with Marriott: The chain is using TripAdvisor 1) for bookings with lower-than standard online travel agency commissions and 2) to advertise even-lower-cost direct bookings on Marriott.com. Makes perfect economic sense.

Priceline Group Interim CEO Jeffery Boyd is too much of a gentleman and a professional to get into a public shouting match with his hotel-chain partners. Still, behind the scenes, he doesn't intend to sit back and let hotel chains withhold their lowest rates without taking retaliatory steps.

TripAdvisor's strategy prioritizes the importance of the app over mobile Web and desktop. With its ability to access Booking.com's trove of hotel descriptions and photos, TripAdvisor is seeing lots of success through its app in driving repeat bookers. The bottom line, though, is cheap hotel prices are key.

Because of the proliferation of mobile devices and the propensity of TripAdvisor's metasearch users to meander off course after clicking off the TripAdvisor site, the company needed to do something dramatic such as Instant Booking to adapt to the future. As it plays the unglamorous "long game," the outcome of TripAdvisor's gamble won't be known until at least 2017.

Breaking up is hard to do but when it comes to mergers, the stakes can be very high and the challenges acutely complex. It's really hard to find someone who will argue that Expedia's acquisition spree will be its undoing but success will take focus and certainly isn't guaranteed.

Did Expedia finally bite off more than it can chew when it went on an acquisition tear? The company stumbled during the second quarter of 2016 but likely has the skills to get back on track.

An IPO for Trivago has been a hoped-for option for Expedia since it acquired the company in 2012. Trivago has been a growth juggernaut and now its investors hope to cash in and to spur increased growth.

Expedia apparently bailed out Trover, a photography app that created an attractive user experience but ran into a stone wall in the form of Instagram and Facebook, as well as user interest.

Lots of consumers start their trip-planning with flights. Expedia will use its customer reviews of flights to spur more flight bookings but the company is also focusing on up-selling and facilitating smooth navigation to hotel and vacation-package options.