Expedia News

When it comes to growing brands -- or at least buying companies with capable management teams -- Expedia knows what it's doing. You can count on Trivago and HomeAway both becoming more formidable than they are today.

Money talks and Gillian Tans was well-compensated for leading Booking.com, the largest accommodations provider on the planet, to a banner year.

Expedia isn't overlooking its core online travel agency brands such as Expedia.com and Hotels.com, but Trivago and HomeAway are clearly rising stars. Trivago hardly ever saw a TV commercial it didn't like but increased profits in Q1, and HomeAway is in the midst of a multi-year digital-booking transition.

Expedia has not been aggressive in its marketing spend in Europe lately. But its global head of retail, Gary Morrison, says that strategy is about to change.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association has no love lost for Expedia, other online travel agencies and their affiliates, and will likely welcome the squabbling and any additional exposure the affiliate issue gets from this lawsuit. Expedia has to move fast to protect its reputation among partners.

Today Expedia's computers are analyzing guest reviews. We predict that someday its computers will use the reviews to create software-generated, Zagat-style hotel summaries, for its search results.

With its Expedia DNA, Egencia is well-positioned to help bring consumer innovations into the corporate travel mainstream.

To a great extent, Ctrip is going to be preoccupied for years chasing Chinese travelers and servicing their every travel need, around the globe. Barring further consolidation, Ctrip isn't much of a threat to its partner, the Priceline Group, which is years ahead in its own hotel business and is executing superbly.

Expedia got a lot of buzz for its 2015 buying binge, but over the last two years China's Ctrip has been on an equal footing with Expedia in terms of acquisition activity. At the same time, TripAdvisor is stockpiling dining-related sites, having bought five and invested in two others.

Even if TripAdvisor can straighten out its Instant Booking feature, it still faces the daunting task of changing consumer perceptions in the face of Expedia, Booking.com and others, which are saturating digital media and broadcasting.