Booking Holdings

Booking.com knows a few things about website creation and it plans on sharing these skills with hotels and becoming a key tech provider to them in the near future. The distribution business would still be primary, but Booking.com officials are bullish about its prospects in the B2B sector.

Well this is bound to be interesting. Amazon appears to be going it alone to launch its own travel service for independent hotels in drive markets. Amazon has huge marketing power, but don't expect Amazon Travel to turn the hotel industry on its head any time soon.

These are cliches, but true: It's mostly about the team and their ability to execute. Business models help, too: As Priceline's Glenn Fogel says, "Good execution of an OK idea is a lot better than lousy execution of a brilliant idea."

Airline, hotel and car rental apps are rated by users as being well below the quality of travel booking apps. That they trail the travel booking apps isn't a huge surprise, but the the size of the ground they would have to gain to catch up is fairly daunting.

Hotel Urbano is focused on being a Big Data-infused travel company with an online travel agency platform in Brazil, one of the largest emerging markets in the world. Hotel Urbano claims it is not only riding that demand, but is also creating it.

There have been a flurry of acquisitions in hotel tech B2B solutions companies in 2014, and cash-rich Alibaba is going to be a player in the category.

Is Sabre worried about Booking.com getting into the hotel B2B game? Not overly, but in acquiring Genares, Sabre is proving that the best defense is a good offense.

Will Booking.com be as good at business services for hotels as it is for selling their rooms, and will a move into enterprise services for hotels be a huge distraction? We are about to find out.

While the national average room rate may be $137, along with everyone claiming the economy is nearly back to normal, more than half of the top cities have lower averages. This reflects the continuing economic recovery and hotels trying to get guests in the door, meaning it's still a great time to find hotel deals.

HotelTonight's marketing team likes to play up spontaneity as a prime booking motivator, but this data suggests that users are in need of reasonably priced rooms without the bells and whistles.