The NYT on Online Travel

The Online Travel Landscape Is Getting Crowded

"TRAVEL sites like Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz already have their hands full with airlines and hoteliers - their "valued partners" - luring consumers away with sites that look more like full-service travel agencies every day. Now, here come Yahoo and AOL, and maybe even Google.
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Among other things, travelers may post articles, hotel and restaurant picks and reviews - from Yahoo or outside Web sites - and photos from their own files or from those on Yahoo's online picture-sharing service, Flickr.
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"Customers are demanding the travel industry do what great merchants do, which is find out what'll help them be comfortable purchasing a product or service," Mr. McArthur said. "In some cases it'll be rich streaming video. In some cases, it'll be more basic stuff." "

Google has a slew of advantages on their side - the most recognisable brand, and the capability to integrate any travel services with Google Earth, Google Maps/Local Search, and put it all on the mobile, perhaps via SMS? Let's see how this turns out...