Meituan has an advantage in travel over some of its competitors because it is a platform company, offering an extensive array of retail services, although food delivery is its core business. The Chinese hotel market is clearly in flux with Meituan and, to a lesser extent, Alibaba, nipping at Ctrip's heels.
Chili's isn't all too concerned with converting value-focused customers into higher spenders at this point. The company is choosing to ride out the foot traffic momentum, at a time when many restaurants are struggling with the metric.
Fortressing is a smart way for Domino's to grow its store footprint and shorten delivery times, but at the same time it puts a lot of pressure on franchisees to find territory to build.
Expedia has dealt with a ton of distractions in recent years as it acquired Wotif, Travelocity, Orbitz Worldwide, and HomeAway, for example. CEO Mark Okerstrom wants to focus on the basics instead, and doesn't want to take bold steps into dining reservations or food delivery for now. On the other hand, Expedia is a very acquisitive company so never say never.
It's becoming increasingly clear that online travel players will try to leverage the heck out of connections between food delivery, ridehailing, and booking hotels. Uber and Lyft will undoubtedly become a bigger part of the action, as well.