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Online Travel

Expedia Isn't Ready to Invest Big in Restaurant Reservations

Dennis Schaal photo
Dennis Schaal

Photo Credit: Expedia offers food tours, as does Airbnb (shown here). But Expedia isn't ready to make big investments in dining reservations platforms, said CEO Mark Okerstrom. Airbnb

Skift Take

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.

While well-known travel companies, including Booking Holdings, TripAdvisor, Grab and Meituan, are betting big on the synergies between travel and restaurants, and in some cases, food delivery, Expedia Group CEO Mark Okerstrom isn't ready to endorse the trend. Pointing to Booking Holdings $941 million writedown in 2016 on its $2.6 billion acquisition of OpenTable a couple of years earlier, Okerstrom said there is a "real question" as to whether the synergies between travel booking, restaurants, and ridesharing are real. The issue of servicing locals going out to restaurants or buying concert tickets versus travelers coming into town very occasionally is one that many travel companies have tried to address in recent year

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