Startups

Last year, AccorHotels took a 30 percent equity share in Oasis, a curated marketplace for luxury rental properties, while also investing in similar concepts like OneFineStay and Squarebreak. This week Oasis received $2.5 million from an "undisclosed investor." We wonder who might that be.

The iCars merger with Limos.com could make the combined company a viable competitor against Blacklane and GroundLink, leaders in private car aggregation for corporate travelers. But all the companies need to step up their games.

Chinese travel startups are innovating, not cloning, these days. For instance, Zanadu is using virtual reality to sell luxury travel in real world shops, Baoku is bringing integrated workflows to corporate travel planners, and Aipinji is applying an Uber-like user interface to an old-school wholesaler model.

TripActions' funding adds buzz to a category of startups aiming to incentivize travelers to book travel more cheaply, while Bluesmart's fresh funding validates the electronic luggage category.

Airbnb and HomeAway clones are a dime-a-dozen. But we found a handful carving out niche market segments that seem promising. These startups focus on travelers interested in corporate-friendly lodgings, architecture and design properties, Asia's top destinations, and exclusive luxury residences.

Stay Alfred's $15 million Series A funding may pale next to the roughly $3 billion that Airbnb has raised. But the company — which services apartment rentals and aims for hotel-quality service — is part of a thriving wave of vendors providing an ecosystem of services around short-term urban rentals.

This is a decent exit for the investors in ReviewPro and a wake-up call to a Western hotel industry ignoring China's tech scene. But it is also a validation of ReviewPro's particular approach of giving hotels actionable analytics on guests for sales and marketing, and revenue management -- and not just monitoring TripAdvisor ratings.

These are the newest travel startups from AngelList vying for travelers’ interest and investors’ attention.

These are the newest travel startups from AngelList vying for travelers’ interest and investors’ attention.

These are the newest travel startups from AngelList vying for travelers’ interest and investors’ attention.