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Hotwire Needs to Pivot Toward Last-Minute and Mobile, Expedia CEO says

Dennis Schaal photo
Dennis Schaal

Photo Credit: Hotwire has been aggressively advertising on TV in attempt to hold off some of Priceline's gains.  Hotwire

Skift Take

In the wacky world of digital travel, Expedia is committed to TripAdvisor, which it spun off, and plans to spend more with Kayak, owned by Priceline, and Trivago, which Expedia controls. Just another day in the life.

Expedia Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi concedes that 2013 has been a "reset year" for its Hotwire business, and the discount site needs to pivot to become more last-minute and more mobile-oriented. "Hotwire does need to pivot some of its dev spend [development spend], some of its design to be a smarter mobile product," said Khosrowshahi September 10 at the Deutsche Bank Technology Conference in Las Vegas. Hotwire's performance disappointed in the first quarter, got worse in the second quarter, and now has stabilized under pressure from an improving economy (it's harder for opaque sites to get supply in these circumstances),

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