Comment by mejutoco

My point is that the underlying incentives are exactly the same. I dont think the rules have changed at all. If you are expedia you could always give an api to search forhotels, but why commoditize yourself? Same with agents.

Ryanair recently had a court case with some meta travel website because they were selling their flights. Ryanair wants to sell you the insurance and extras, and they can only do so controlling the experience.

My prediction is, like apis, there will be some years of extra access for agents, followed by locking moats for their own experience.