Expedia News

Expedia has no plans to spin off whole-home site Vrbo following Airbnb's blockbuster IPO. Instead, the company is doubling down on expanding the site through its various channels amid a strong pandemic vacation rental market.

Arne Sorenson was a maverick in his own way. He quietly visited Airbnb headquarters in 2014 to get a better understanding of short-term rentals, which culminated in Marriott's Homes & Villas. And he found a way to have a mutually beneficial relationship with those "evil" online travel agencies.

Expedia Group will restart its marketing machine in phases. First, it will tout its vacation rental brands like Vrbo. By around April, it will roll out a campaign touting Expedia as a place for booking "the complete trip." It makes sense to pay for those efforts partly by cutting some of its Google investment.

Expedia Group's mission statement updated from "The World's Travel Platform" to a more modest blurb may be sending a message to its employees. If any were complacent under the old regime, they'd better be full of hustle to tackle a changing competitive landscape.

IAC/Expedia Group Chairman Barry Diller speaks with Skift Editor-in-Chief Tom Lowry at Skift Global Forum in September 2020.

Sister brands Vrbo and Expedia are being opportunistic in getting relatively aggressive about U.S. TV advertising early in 2021 when rival brands are standing down. You can debate whether it is smart or risky given the pandemic backdrop.

Messaging and collaboration tools help businesses run smoothly in these pandemic times, but not all travel agencies have their finger on the pulse.

Airlines all over the world to varying degrees are pursuing direct-booking strategies. Is JetBlue's decision to remove its flights from CheapOair and OneTravel an isolated dispute or are Expedia and Priceline next on JetBlue's target list?

The bean counters, meaning the financial experts, at all of the major online travel companies have their work cut out for them as they monitor and try to predict the shape and timing of any potential travel recovery. These companies need to be nimble, and hoard their cash.

Stay deep or go wide? Online travel companies from Expedia to Airbnb and Booking.com are grappling with these issues. Focusing on core products can clearly be a winning formula, but when you are a public company, pressure to generate growth from new areas is a constant conundrum.