Booking Holdings

Jeffery Boyd doesn't want to meddle in Priceline's business on a day to day basis, which may provide angst to some investors. Still, incoming CEO Darren Huston has capably led Priceline's prized asset, Booking.com, over the last two years, so he's got the pedigree in what promises to be a fascinating new era in online travel.

Priceline's Jeffery Boyd is going out -- from the CEO post, at least -- at the top, and the guy with a banker's demeanor will come to be viewed as a rock star of online and mobile travel. We don't know about groupies, but there certainly are a ton of imitators.

The changing of the guard is now official -- in more ways than one.

One of Expedia's answers to Booking.com is the Expedia Traveler Preference Program, giving consumers the choice to prepay for a hotel (merchant model) or pay at the hotel (an agency model like Booking.com's). Booking.com's sole use of the agency model gives it a speed advantage as the merchant model is more complicated when signing on and retaining hotels.

The Expedia-Travelocity deal won't likely trigger a lot of consolidation because there aren't a lot of U.S. pieces left worth buying.

By no means comprehensive, but by all means insightful, the report is a brief summation of how digital trends are impacting the travel industry and how travel companies can keep ahead of the pack.

Priceline is anxious to see what it terms its Booking.com "experiment" in the U.S., replete with offline branding campaign, succeed. Given the volatily in subsidiary Booking.com's core European market, growth in the U.S., alongside Priceline.com, would serve as a hedge against Europe's troubles.