Startups

Rather than reinventing the travel experience, startups today are providing the insights and tool necessary to make the current experience easier and more effective.

Whether it is Smart Host, another startup or one of the established players, the short-term rental industry is ripe for disruption in so many areas and someone is going to deliver on the dynamic pricing premise.

Identifying a specific customer set is one of the first steps to a successful startup and one that most on this list have mastered.

Changing consumers' expectations of the hotel booking process will take time, no matter how ingenuous the new model may be, suggesting that most of these startups have to gain support and build awareness before seeing any meaningful growth.

Lyft is hungry to get into New York City and it's wisely playing by the city's rules, but we're interested to see how this newly adjusted business model will pan out in a city where private and public transportation are readily available.

HotelTonight's reach may be broad, but it's not necessarily relevant in many of its new markets. Time would be better spent targeting major cities in Asia and Latin America than mining every possible market in Europe.

It's not often that a new and viable business model is discovered in the crowded travel market, but those that make it find eager customers and investors that recognize the potential for growth in such a global industry.