Expedia News

Was TripAdvisor's CEO Stephen Kaufer worth $39 million in 2013? That amount is a bit of an anomaly as it includes $38 million in stock options, and he won't be eligible for more until the Summer of 2017. Although there are complaints that TripAdvisor gives geographic growth a higher priority than short-term shareholder return, we don't see anyone complaining.

Hardly a surprise that Sparks, who was brought in to resurrect the brand, would depart after it has basically given up.

Lawsuits didn't kill hotel rate parity. Instead, it is Big Data, analytics, advertsiing retargeting and personalization that are making enforcement of rate-parity provisions almost untenable.

Travelocity talked years ago about getting into the advertising and media business in a big way, but never made it happen. But, now Expedia has grand plans to use Travelocity's North America sites as a platform to expanding Expedia's own advertising and media business in tandem with the jolt that Trivago is already providing.

HomeAway is not about to be another Booking.com, but Google is going to get a new and large global customer when the vacation rental site ramps up its search engine marketing, probably next year.

The Expedia.com homepage redesign is trendy and artsy, with lots of open space and a search widget placed on top of an inspirational photo. Simplicity, photo-led search and responsive design are trending now -- until the next big thing comes along.

The rise of metasearch as led to consumers comparison shopping in big ways, the shopping cart abandonment numbers are in line with that.

In a few years, the streamlined, cross-platform searching that Hipmunk and Expedia are creating will be taken for granted because any company worth anything will have to offer it. So far Hipmunk Anywhere is more intuitive than Expedia's Scratchpad with fewer clicks or taps, but these are very early days.

To borrow an immortal line ... There is no joy in Mudville -- mighty Travelocity has struck out.

While some erroneously looked to Expedia to take tours and activities mainstream, Groupon, if it survives, is making the first move.