Sean O'Neill

Having sold his business to Booking Holdings last year, former Momondo CEO Hugo Burge has had more time for venture investing. His views on travel startup funding are insightful. And we're not saying that just because we hope to be invited to see the gorgeous mansion in Scotland that he's been refurbishing.

TravelPerk’s funding further supports Skift's 2018 Megatrend that companies are becoming more interested in booking systems that more directly serve business travelers.

Venture capital has awoken in a big way to the potential of vacation rental property managers.

Kiwi has grown fast without venture capital or marketing gimmicks. The online travel agency's story shows what it takes for a startup to scale today. Its story also reveals the long shadows cast by the mighty travel conglomerates.

Diller is one of the godfathers of online travel and Expedia is probably among the top two travel advertisers in Google. Whether his comments will lead to lobbying or business practice changes, is today's multibillion dollar question.

Beijing-based Shiji serves more than 47,000 hotels outside of China. This is the first time it has spoken candidly with independent English-language media about its acquisition strategy. This year its subsidiaries have won deals with MGM Resorts, Radisson, and other major brands. Reading between the lines, it has big plans in the works.

This story is yet more fodder supporting one of Skift's megatrends for 2018, which was that travel brands no longer get political at their own risk — they avoid politics at their own risk, given consumer expectations.

Combined with earlier deals, Stay Alfred shows that a convergence in hospitality is upon us.

So far as we know, a planned mobile app from Puerto Rico will be the first by any tourism board that offers text-based help for visitors from local concierges while they're in a destination. Other efforts at enhancing the digital marketing of the island's businesses show promise, too.

A wave of fundings is helping startups like CrowdRiff and Travel Appeal develop tools to help travel marketers be more efficient.