Booking Holdings

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.

Even more exciting than the launch of this app is the transformative potential it could have for the participating independent hotels in terms of data sharing, loyalty program opportunities, messaging, mobile services, and so much more.

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that points alone cannot drive brand loyalty. Loyalty is a result of deeper interaction with consumers — and brands who want to succeed will need to transform the way they understand and engage with visitors at their physical venues in the digital realm.

It's no surprise that business travelers hate waiting in security lines more than any other aspect of the travel experience. But the importance of booking choice to millennials and booking flexibility for Gen Xers shows how consumer booking tools have shifted how workers think about business travel.

Turns out the packages a hotel offers at booking can be a deciding factor in consumers choosing a destination.

Metasearch sites such as Kayak, Hipmunk, Trivago, TripAdvisor and Tripping have a lot of heavy lifting to do because consumers will increasingly be demanding better ways to comparison-shop for alternative accommodations that are often unique and difficult to define. All things being equal -- and they aren't -- that's a big market opportunity for these sites.

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.