Sean O'Neill

Oracle Hospitality doesn't fold sheets, bus tables, or stock shelves, but its software does keep hotels in order. It's taking a few years for the company to get itself in order, too.

Trivago says this was just a hiccup. But they’re vague about why they were surprised and what precisely happened. We suspect a Priceline sucker punch.

Skyscanner is boosting Ctrip's margins, and Skyscanner's new instant booking service shows promise as a way to propel future growth.

Travel startups raised more than $72 million this week. The most promising of these is Treebo, which is banking on branded hotel networks as a niche in India.

Ctrip is betting on 6,000 franchise shops to take aim at cities where most travel shopping happens offline. At the same time, it hopes to increase its operating margins to Priceline-like levels. The two initiatives don't necessarily collide since Ctrip doesn't own the real estate or pay labor costs for the offline shops.

Google now prods its users to try to cut their travel costs by considering alternative airports and other tricks. Yet the incremental moves may not appease a European watchdog that may question its broader business practices in travel.

The conventional wisdom has been that flash sales can't be a profitable model during economic good times. The apparent success of Secret Escapes puts the lie to that notion.

Alice is now majority-owned by Expedia. That brings heft to its dream of becoming the largest data machine in hospitality for operations and guest service.

Expedia's purchase price for a majority stake in SilverRail was double the sum that SilverRail had raised from investors. The price tag was a multiple of the investment but not a stellar exit for shareholders.

Expedia has promising candidates if it chooses to look internally for a permanent replacement for outgoing CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Our guess for the interim pick is CFO Mark Okerstrom.