Booking Holdings

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.

Like many successful companies, Hostelworld resolves to win by maintaining its focus on what it does best: Selling hostels. Its big challenge is to generate more awareness about the modern and socially oriented hostel while larger players like Airbnb and Booking.com suck the air out of Google.

The Forces Shaping Business Travel Data Deck paints a picture of the business travel landscape and the trends impacting the business traveler of the future through a curation of charts, stats, and data. Download this data deck for free!

Why would a traveler research hotels and flights to Hong Kong, but end up booking a trip to New York City? How much time does a traveler spend researching before deciding on a destination or booking a trip? Where do travelers seek inspiration?

Buying TripAdvisor would be a very large -- albeit relatively cheap -- acquisition given its current stock price. One very significant impediment, especially for Priceline, is the fact that Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings, which has historic ties to Barry Diller's Expedia, controls TripAdvisor. Still, for the right price, Liberty would have to consider a sale of its prized asset as TripAdvisor goes through a very challenging and prolonged transition.