Travel Industry Earnings Coverage

Virgin America's strategy of higher fares and fewer ancillaries likely lets them attract a more loyal and higher spending customer.

Marriott's purchase is really about two things: creating the world's largest hospitality loyalty program and getting access to a few billion in real estate assets that can be sold off. The extra brands are just a bonus.

Expedia's acquisitions versus the Priceline Group's "competitive moat." Rock, paper, scissors. It's an interesting contest and in the $1.4 trillion global travel market, both companies can be winners. Expedia is trending upward and Priceline is showing strong growth, as well.

The argument of Priceline Group CEO Darren Huston is that chains are shooting themselves in the foot -- and their properties aren't happy -- when the chains offer lower rates on their own websites because then their listings on Booking.com won't convert as well as they should. But as Huston says in a different context, perhaps the hotels would reply that they are "playing the long game."

Host's portfolio includes brands from across most of the major chains, which means its earnings are an indication of the health of the U.S. domestic market as a whole.

TripAdvisor CEO Stephen Kaufer gets mystical about the company following "our North Star, navigating our path toward creating the best user experience in travel." Investors could care less about TripAdvisor journey toward the North Star as long as it means great returns on their investments, which ultimately is Kaufer's goal, as well.

Expedia is upsetting the proverbial apple cart in introducing hotels bidding against one another for prime placement in Expedia's search results. It's a bold move that could have a far-reaching impact across the online travel agency and hotel industries.

While Disney parks are doing well now in the U.S., there are growing challenges from Universal that it will need to contend with.

Yelp's frustrating attempt to push users from the mobile web to its smartphone app has apparently paid off.

The Spirit CEO's vision is for low fares on cramped planes that are clean and run on time. These sort of changes are heavy-lifting for a growing airline and would muffle some complaints but might not be enough to really change the airline's reputation.