Travel Industry Earnings Coverage

The geographic business mix of Booking Holdings has always been a tightly held secret. The trajectory of the uneven recovery, with the U.S. being its strongest and Europe the weakest regions, prompted the company the tell-all. The dynamic proved disadvantageous for Booking's short-term rentals.

There are no guarantees that Trivago will succeed in transforming itself, broadening its offerings to travelers, and becoming different enough from rivals to ensure its viability. But sitting still and not trying new things wasn't an option, either.

Sabre and its peers are finally accepting airline demands that distribution contracts should have incentives to build technology that boosts the upselling of travelers. The industry frames the move as providing value to flyers because it makes bundled services easier to buy.

The increased importance of YouTube doesn't bode well for travel advertisers seeking to reduce their reliance on sister brand Google. Pay Google for search ads or spend money on YouTube — it all ends up in the same place.

Running an airline isn't easy, and neither is launching ridesharing, financial services, and delivery businesses from scratch. AirAsia has its work cut out for it in terms of the required investments and trying to be everything to everyone in Southeast Asian markets with entrenched incumbents.

Like Traveloka in Indonesia, Argentina's Despegar is making strides in financial services. Amsterdam-based Booking.com is busy building a payments platform, and Grab Taxi in Southeast Asia has a lending and insurance arm. Megatrend, yes.

Amadeus's deal with International Airlines Group shows a path forward in the contentious contract disputes it has had with many airlines over distribution costs and methods. The technology giant's earnings report on Friday was broadly in line with expectations.

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky said what the company's customers really want are unique stays and experiences offered by individual hosts. That means expanding Airbnb's hotel business doesn't seem to be the priority it once was. And, oh yeah, the proliferation of corporate hosts like Sonder and others, doesn't mesh with what Chesky believes travelers desire.

Is there one little thing that Wall Street is forgetting about the Booking Holdings-Airbnb face-off? Booking Holdings has a huge hotel business and Airbnb doesn't. Booking is certainly lagging in short-term rentals, but CEO Glenn Fogel is probably justified in liking his cards.

Tripadvisor is trying to become a much larger transaction site again. But here are two challenges: Will the benefits be so superior to discounts you can get for free booking on HotelTonight or elsewhere? And hotels will get a break on commissions, but do they really want to train guests to book on Tripadvisor?