Expedia tips

Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, September 5, and here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Is Expedia Group's $25 billion B2B business diluting its consumer businesses, including Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo, or is it a big advantage for the Group?

Ariane Gorin, who took the reins as Expedia Group CEO in May, is trying to make the company more global. Gorin, who’s been a member of the Expedia Group senior leadership committee since 2015 and previously headed Expedia for Business, is well-positioned for the international challenge.

Dara Khosrowshahi, along with Barry Diller, built Expedia as we know it today. Khosrowshahi became CEO of Expedia in 2005 after it was spun out of Diller’s IAC, and spent the next 12 years overseeing multiple major acquisitions to consolidate the consumer travel industry and create a giant. The largest deals among them: Orbitz for $1.6 billion and HomeAway (now Vrbo) for $3.9 billion.

Vrbo has a new ad featuring legendary Alabama University football coach and current ESPN analyst Nick Saban as a nightmare vacation rental host. He soaks in a hot tub with with a clearly unsettled couple seeking privacy, tells them they can shower for five minutes maximum, and warns there’s “no fun” allowed.

Ryanair chastised online travel agencies for years for scraping its fares and unilaterally charging higher prices, as well as booking fees and overcharging for ancillary services like checked bags.

Thursdays are the busiest days to fly, but travelers taking to the skies on Mondays could save about 15 percent off the cost of their domestic trip. When it comes to international flights, travelers can save by departing on a Saturday.

Alaska Airlines is the latest U.S. airline to launch a travel portal allowing frequent flyer members to book nonflight purchases — everything from hotel rooms and rental properties to car rentals and activities.

Erik Blachford is as well-versed as anyone to discuss the keys to being a successful CEO, especially in the travel industry. He has run several companies, including Expedia, TerraPass, and Butterfield & Robinson.

Good morning from Skift. It’s Friday, August 16, 2024, and here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

Booking and Expedia spend a ton on marketing: Nearly $13 billion combined in 2023, up from $10 billion in 2019. And it’s the largest expense for both companies, accounting for roughly half of their total operating expenses. 

Expedia Group is “pausing” the rollout of its new One Key loyalty program beyond the U.S. and the UK in part because of the adverse impact on its Hotels.com brand.

Like others in the travel industry, Expedia Group saw a “challenging” global economy and “softening” travel demand in July.

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Trivago announced Tuesday that it acquired a 30% equity interest in Holisto, which uses “split and match” technology to create novel hotel deals, for $10 million. Trivago said it has the option to buy the remaining 70% of the company within 15 months.

Expedia Group and Ryanair settled a long-running dispute, which will culminate in several months with Expedia customers being able to book the airline’s standalone flights and vacation packages “with a path to Ryanair,” the companies said.

Last-minute travel sites have traditionally gained ground during challenging economic times.

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Expedia Group in recent years has shed around a half-dozen brands, and it is continuing the purge with the closure of ebookers UK on September 4.

Tim Rosolio, VP of vacation rental partner success at Expedia Group, and Ben Wolff, co-founder of tree house hotelier Onera, spoke about how the modern traveler is looking for one-of-a-kind social media moments at Skift’s Short-Term Rental Summit on Wednesday. 

Many of the travel booking platforms that experimented with generative AI tools early are now releasing second or third versions of that tech.