Major TMCs American Express Global Business Travel (GBT), BCD Travel, and Carlson Wagonlit Travel — have signed a partnership with Airbnb, the short-term rental giant.
Familiarity with brands and trust have triggered what is anticipated to be a doubling of travellers opting for services such as Airbnb, Uber, Lyft et al this year.
Google has begun adding airfare tracking, more filters for hotel search and hotel booking advice to its flights and hotels metasearch on both desktop and mobile.
After several acquisitions, Ctrip is now the absolute monopolistic force in online travel in China, making it almost impossible for any start-up to compete.
An institutional round to the tune of almost £2 million is in the hands of FatMap, a 3D mapping service for activities such as skiing and mountain biking.
India-based Ibibo Group has signalled its intention to target new regions of the world with an undisclosed investment in Peruvian bus ticketing site Busportal.
The white label affiliate of Booking.com — VNTrip, just a month after its official launch, has scored a Series A funding round of $3 million from an ex-Alibaba exec’s investment vehicle.
Qunar has retained Duff & Phelps as its financial advisor and Kirkland & Ellis as its U.S. legal counsel to review the "going private" proposal from Ocean Management.