Booking Holdings

Expedia Group is arguably — OK, clearly — not "The World's Travel Platform." But we understand that marketing machines strive to do their thing.

This is a prime example of "Why didn't they think of this sooner?"

Surprising factors have delayed the coronation of MakeMyTrip Group as India's queen of domestic online travel. Paytm came out of nowhere to grab share, Oyo upended budget hotel distribution, Ixigo tried to make price comparison chic, and Booking.com outmaneuvered Expedia for premium hotel bookings. From this scrappy mix, online travel will find new lessons.

Find out how Skift picks, creates, and polishes its stories with our team's own greatest hits list. Here's hoping you enjoy reading these stories as much as we liked reporting and writing them.

Ctrip has been able to spend most of its 15-year history riding a rising travel tide in China while buying out much of the competition to blunt their challenges. For 2019, Ctrip will have to stand up and get moving to recapture momentum and investor attention.

Nearly every travel brand knows that direct bookings offer a powerful opportunity to take control of their relationship with customers. But knowing how to make it happen can be challenging. The emerging set of best practices below offers a road map to move from idea to action.

Booking.com has been making strides in the U.S. market for several years, but the challenges are formidable. Expedia is outspending Booking.com on U.S. TV, and then there is Airbnb to throw into the equation.

Google Assistant will soon start sending flight-delay notifications on mobile, and informing travelers about the reasons behind the disruption to their itineraries. This could be a really great service, and Google will do it at scale. Rest assured that an automated flight-rebooking service won't be too far behind.

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.

It's rare to have an Expedia CEO speak so candidly about Google's threat to his own company. After all, Google knows how to punish companies when it wants to. Given Barry Diller's recent statements, and Okerstrom's view, there must be a lot of concern in Expedialand behind the scenes.