"Bloggers have the potential to change business travel," said Clancy Ratliff, an assistant professor of English at East Carolina University, in Greenville, N.C., who wrote her dissertation on blogging. "Maybe they haven’t reached a critical mass yet, the way bloggers have in other places. But their influence may be growing."

Some are taking them as seriously as the work of journalists. For example, Marriott International began an ambitious program to reach bloggers this spring. Its efforts included asking bloggers to speak to its corporate communications team, inviting them on press trips and offering them news in advance of print media.

"A lot of business travelers are getting their information from blogs," said John Wolf, a Marriott spokesman. "We wanted to have a better understanding of blogs."

To do that, Marriott assigned an employee to monitor the blogosphere and generate daily reports on what bloggers were writing about the company. It also began pitching bloggers on Marriott-themed postings, recently offering bloggers an exclusive about a plan to put airline check-in stations in its lobbies. "The news got out there within minutes," Mr. Wolf said.