Google captured most of the online travel industry’s headlines this past week as it seeks to “balance” the competing interests of regulators, on the one hand, and intermediaries and direct sellers, on the other hand. As long...more
Good Sunday afternoon from Seattle and for those of you celebrating in the United States, a belated Happy Fourth of July . . . A shortened holiday version of our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, July 4,...more
Good Saturday evening from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, June 27, 2025, is below. This week’s Update features news of yet another claim being brought against Booking.com over its...more
Good Sunday evening from Seattle and for those of you celebrating, Happy Father’s Day. Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, June 13, 2025, is below. This week’s Update features an update on the DMA and...more
Good Sunday evening from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, June 6, 2025, is below. Like last week’s Update, which featured a number of stories on Booking.com, this week’s Update also includes...more
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, May 30, 2025, is below. Booking.com features prominently (again) in our Update this week as investigations into, and claims against,...more
Good Monday morning from Seattle . . . For those of you who have served in the armed forces, thank you for your service. Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, May 23, 2025, is below. This week’s Update features...more
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending May 2, 2025, is below. This week’s Update features stories on many of the large online players, including first quarter earnings...more
5/6/2025
/ AirBnB ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Booking.com ,
Expedia ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Priceline ,
Travelers ,
Uber ,
YouTube
Good Sunday morning from Seatle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, April 4, is below. This week’s Update features a number of follow up stories on topics covered in recent Updates, including...more
4/8/2025
/ Airlines ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Booking.com ,
Expedia ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Popular ,
Rental Property ,
Travelers
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, March 28, 2025, is below. This week’s Update features stories on a variety of topics including Perplexity’s big booking...more
3/31/2025
/ AirBnB ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Booking.com ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Influencers ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Popular ,
Travelers ,
TripAdvisor
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, March 21, is below. This week’s Update features a number of stories on the EU’s renewed interest in pursuing competition compliance,...more
Happy Saturday from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, March 14, 2025, is below. What started as a relatively quiet week in the travel industry (other than the concerning reports from several...more
3/18/2025
/ Airlines ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Booking.com ,
Fees ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Phishing Scams ,
Price Discrimination ,
Travelers
Happy Sunday afternoon from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, March 7, 2025, is below. The past week was relatively quiet one, with only minor announcements by a few of the largest industry...more
Good Saturday afternoon from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending February 21, 2025, is below. If any of our readers still question the profound (dare I say, disruptive) effect that AI will have on...more
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, January 17, 2025, is below. Other than Perplexity’s newly announced partnership with TripAdvisor (readers, please read the story...more
1/22/2025
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Blocked Mergers ,
Booking.com ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Popular ,
Search Engines ,
Travelers ,
TripAdvisor
Good Sunday morning and Happy New Year!! We are again providing a roundup of a few of the stories that we feel made the biggest impact in the online travel industry over this past year (and continuing into this year). ...more
1/7/2025
/ Accessibility Rules ,
Algorithms ,
American Airlines ,
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) ,
Artificial Intelligence ,
Booking.com ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Fees ,
Final Rules ,
Google ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Layoffs ,
Marriott ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Price-Fixing ,
Travelers
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, December 13, 2024, is below.
Google and its “efforts” to comply with the DMA again garnered most of the industry’s attention. As I...more
Good Sunday evening from Seattle . . .
As many of you know, I returned a few weeks ago from an extended sabbatical – three months well spent traveling, cooking, reading and driving my wife crazy. Now that I am back in the...more
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update (my last for the next 3 months) for the week ending August 2, 2024, is below. Last week was a busy week in the online travel industry with second quarter...more
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, July 26, 2024, is below. It was a relatively quiet week this past week in the online travel industry, at least until Google’s...more
Good Sunday morning from Seattle... Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, July 19, 2024, is below. This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including news on the latest fines to be levied on...more
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, July 12, 2024, is below. Marriott and its launch of a new small and medium sized business travel platform garnered most of the...more
7/16/2024
/ AirBnB ,
Airlines ,
Amazon ,
Booking.com ,
Business Travel ,
Carnival Cruise Lines ,
Customer-Loyalty Programs ,
Expedia ,
Hospitality Industry ,
Hotels ,
Marriott ,
MasterCard ,
Online Travel Vendors ,
Southwest Airlines ,
Travelers ,
Wells Fargo
Good Sunday morning from somewhere over Colorado . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, June 21, 2024, is below. It was another relatively quiet week in the online travel space, except, that is, if...more
This week’s Update features a variety of stories – STRs, algorithm leaks and Hilton campgrounds (sort of):
- Las Vegas Price-Fixing Case Is Appealed. A few weeks ago we reported on a Nevada federal district court’s...more
American Airlines’ decision to soften its approach on distribution with travel agents and advisors garnered most of the industry’s attention this week. Otherwise, the holiday week for many was relatively quiet. Enjoy....more