Booking Holdings

Booking.com displaced Southwest's long-time hotel partner, Orbitz, on Southwest.com. Booking.com's pay-at-the-hotel system meshes much better with Southwest's flexible fare structure than did Orbitz's preponderous hotel bookings requiring prepayment. Booking.com's integration of its Rocketmiles acquisition on Southwest now makes total sense.

Direct booking is not really a war where one side must lose. Both the large hotel chains and online travel agencies could wind up better off if they act rationally on pricing.

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.

TripAdvisor selling travel to Cuba is just another step towards the mainstreaming of Cuba as a U.S. tourist destination, and represents a coup for TripAdvisor as it tries to ramp up its bookings business.

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.

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Expedia is seeking to gain even more influence in the hotel industry while the big chains are trying to limit online travel agencies' clout through the hotels' direct-booking campaigns. As Expedia's recent Marriott Vacations and Red Lion deals, along with the needs of smaller hotels, show, there is substantial upside for Expedia.

There's no doubt that Booking.com already has the user base -- and can increase it -- to be successful in catering to unmanaged business travelers. Whether a loyalty program will turn out to be advantageous remains to be seen and can be adjusted as the situation merits. The real question is whether Booking.com, like Expedia's Egencia, will take the next step into managed travel by acquisition or otherwise.

Expedia, Booking.com and Ctrip are all slated to grow at at healthy clip over the next few years despite moves by big chains to steal some market share. If Morningstar's numbers are right, then some of the chains may find that the potential advantages of their direct-booking campaigns may not be as large as they once imagined.

OTAs have had it their own way for a long time but the boss of Booking.com seemed relaxed about the future. Different customers will continue to require different ways to book a room.