How a Pandemic Helped Expedia’s Vrbo Fix Its Google Problem
Skift Take
Vrbo is benefiting from a ton of direct traffic because vacation rentals are having a moment, and competitors' paid marketing through Google fell off a cliff. The brand will likely get some sustainable benefit from the lift, but the dynamic can change in a heartbeat.
What a difference seven months and a global pandemic make. If you recall, Expedia Group forced out CEO Mark Okerstrom last December, in part, because the company hadn't adapted to Google capturing a bunch of its lodging traffic.
OK, you can debate whether a revenue decline in Expedia Group's Hotels, Media and Platform business in the third quarter of 2019 could truly be laid at Google's doorstep or whether much of the issue was Expedia's lack of execution.
But fast forward to Thursday, and one part of Expedia Group's lodging business, its Vrbo vacation rental brand, is thriving in the midst of the coronavirus calamity. Vrbo is "extremely profitable" in some respects, according to parent company CEO Peter Kern, because the whole-home vacation rental brand is thriving as travelers go directly to its websites to research and book.
When you don't have to market much through Google — a
