Samantha Shankman

This summer is set to reach post-recession highs on almost all accounts, giving travel marketers greater competition and opportunities to cash in on newly confident U.S. travelers.

Bridging the gap between B2B and B2C is important for startups who want to build a brand while attracting enough customers to make money and build a viable business.

Mobile ticketing will be commonplace on U.S. and international transit lines in the near future and we expect adoption to soar above 25% when that time comes.

Content marketing is a major opportunity for brands to gain an audience outside of their specific product, but Fairfield Inn's message veers too far away from its customer base for the project to gain traction.

Well-known and well-visited cities are receiving the most benefits from the increase in international tourism, especially as travelers lengthen their stay but keep to one destination.

The bus market is considerably different from air travel and hotels, but based on Greyhound's startup experiment there still remains an opportunity for one or two bus travel aggregators to break through.

Although economic confidence and business travel are back on the rise, individuals and companies are now smarter about booking, more interested in loyalty rewards, and booking independently -- none of which bodes well for this luxury experience, popular in the past.

Cost and schedule are the two factors that most poignantly impact an individual's ability to travel and the U.S. Travel Association's efforts to improve infrastructure will likely have too little an impact to be noticeable among everyday flyers concerned with their own travel limitations.

In hospitality, the goal should be to make guests feel more welcome and their stays more personalized. We'll see whether consumers find this cool or creepy.