Google to buy Expedia?!?

This might be the craziest news I’ve heard in a long time, but, there’s a rumor going around that Google has interest in acquiring Expedia. Search meets distribution in a full and complete way, huh?

Expedia’s expansion plans for offline channels: Expedia opens its first CruiseShipCenter (Expedia CSC) franchise location this month,

TravelTrade has an interview with Paul Brown, president of Expedia North American and Expedia Partner Services Group about Expedia’s CruiseShipCenter franchises specifically, and Expedia’s offline plans in general.

Yahoo Travel switches from Travelocity to FareChase as its default travel search engine

Erick Schonfeld at TechCrunch analyzes what led Yahoo to use FareChase instead of Travelocity for its default travel search engine. Looks like the market for price searching is heating up just as the economy begins slowing.

ABC News: Move Over, Porn: Online Travel Sales Up

ABC News: Move Over, Porn: Online Travel Sales Up: “”

The T-List of Travel blogs

Matthieu at Radar Blog first created this T-List of Travel blogs (and I took the most current list from Jens Thraenhart).

Enjoy!

General Travel Blogs

• A Long Ride
• A Luxury Travel Blog
• Adirondack Base Camp
• Apple Core Hotels
• Argentina’s Travel Guide
• BootBlog
• Brave New Traveler
• Brazil Travel Blog
• Buenos Aires Argentina Guide
• CampingCoop
• Chronicles of On The Road Travel
• Diane Clarkson
• Erin Julian
• Europe A La Carte Blog
• Family Travel
• FastenYourSeatbelts.at
• Fly Away Cafe
• Foreign Perspectives
• French Life-expat France
• Gadling
• Happy Hotelier
• HotelChatter
• Hotels of the Rich and Famous
• InFlightHQ
• jaunted
• Line of Sight
• Lonely Planet | Travel Blog
• Me-Go
• My Marrakesh
• My Travel Backpack
• National Geographic | Traveler
• New York Traveler
• NewYorkology
• Rolling Rains Report
• southernbyways
• The Cranky Flier
• The Lobby
• the lost girls
• The Sydney Morning Herald Blog
• They Let Her Travel
• Tim Leffel’s Cheapest Destinations
• Travel Horizons
• Travel Post.com Insider
• Travel Rants
• Travel Stuff
• TravelerWire

• Travelvice
• TripAdvisor: We Are Not Making This Up
• TripCart :: The Travel Blog
• Two Dog Zoo Travel
• Upgrade: Travel Better
• Vagablond
• Vagabonding
• World Hum

Travel Industry Blogs

• Back of House in DXB
• Bed Jump
• Blog on travel
• Blog Rydges
• The Brand Canada Blog
• BuhlerWorks
• Bull City Mutterings
• dot tourism
• E-hotel
• Farecast Blog
• Hawthorne Hotel
• Hotel Blogs 2.0
• Hotelmarketing.com
• Living with Legends: Hotel Chelsea Blog
• localhoteldirectory.com
• m-Travel.com and Travel Distribution News
• Marriott on the move
• New York Hospitality
• Online Travel Review
• radar
• Randy’s Journal
• realtravel
• Relactions Blog
• The McCluskey Blog
• The Tourism and Hospitality Diaries
• The Travel Cooler
• The Travel PR Blog
• Tourism INTERNET Marketing Blog
• Travel and Web 2.0
• Travel Start-ups
• Travel Weekly
• Travolution
• travel & tourism technology trends
• UK airports information blog
• Viator Travel Blog
• web 2.0 travel tools
• Zeitgeist

Foreign Language Travel Blogs

French Travel Blogs

• Entreprendre dans le e-Tourisme
• Les Explorers

Italian Travel Blogs

• ADV Italia

Dutch Travel Blogs

• weekendhotel weblog

German Travel Blogs

• eTurismus.info
• FastenYourSeatbelts.at
• Tourismus Zukunft – Technologie
• Kulinarisch Reisen – Blog
• Touristikblog.de
• Touristikblog hokat.de

Spanish Travel Blogs

• AbsolutBCN
• Air France Mexico
• Albert Barra
• Aquela Passagem!
• Aviacion Digital
• Bitacora De Viajes
• Blog de gestion turistica
• Blog de Viajes
• Brief Blog
• Comercializacion hotelera?
• de viaje a Brasil
• De Viajero.com
• Desde el Rio Parana a Tierra del Fuego
• Despegar
• Diario del viajero
• DondeViajar
• …en transicion…
• Entornao
• escapadas europa
• eurotrip
• Explorando Peru
• Guia de Viajes
• HotelBlog.es
• Hoteles
• Hotel, Friends and more…
• Intermundial
• Kiwi Viajero
• Locura Viajes
• Los viajes de Jota
• Marketing Turistico
• megustaelturismo.es
• Mochileros
• Nos vamos de turismo!
• Notas do Turismo
• Primera Clase
• Rumboperdido
• Toni Mascaro
• topviajeros
• Trabber
• Turistiko
• viajar asiaviaje ne viagem
• Voy de viaje
• Vuelos Baratos en Internet
• ZuHause
  

HSMAI Social Media report now available

I mentioned this recently, but thought it’s worth further notice. HSMAI’s Travel Marketer’s Guide to Social Media written by Cindy Estis Green is now available. You can buy your copy here

GigaOM’s take on SideStep/Kayak merger

Om Malik provides a strong take on the Kayak/SideStep merger. Most notable is that Om is drawing comments from Kayak co-founder Paul English. Without taking sides here, it looks like there’s more than one point of view on this business, eh?

Breaking: Kayak Raises $196 Million, Buys Rival SideStep

Breaking: Kayak Raises $196 Million, Buys Rival SideStep: “”

Whew, this is some heady news as I’m heading out on two week’s holiday. I’ll have to call some friends at SideStep to see what the deal is here. But very wild.

Social media marketing trends in hospitality

Social media marketing trends in hospitality

Cindy Estis Green’s report for HSMAI is well worth the read. I was part of the editorial board and Cindy did a great job of distilling a huge, important topic into a clear, readable, and most importantly, actionable document. I suggest you grab a copy.

HSMAI – eConnect

HSMAI has got an interesting take on social. Worth checking out.