Egencia Is Growing Fast but Corporate Travel Rivals Still Dominate Large Accounts

In 2016, Egencia, the corporate travel division of Expedia Inc., saw its revenues rise 16 percent, to $462 million — aided by the acquisition of Orbitz for Business. Egencia handled $6.3 billion in gross bookings last year. It aims to double that annual volume over the next four years. In 2016, lodging was a growth driver, with "room nights stayed" growing more than 16 percent. For 2017, the corporate travel distributor is working to "dramatically improve" its expense management tools, said Expedia chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi on a Thursday call with investment analysts. Khosrowshahi added, "We don't see anyone else who is really a scale technology player in corporate travel." POSSIBLE M&A Egencia believes that its technology investment will enable it to deliver digital services that appeal to corporate travelers, whose expectations are rapidly evolving. It believes it can out-innovate in a cost-effective way its arch-rivals Carlson Wagonlit Travel and American Express Global Business Travel (GBT). To achieve its ambition, Egencia plans to hire more salespeople in the markets it serves in 2017. But logic dictates that an acquisition or two may be needed in the next few years, too. Speaking in general of the Expedia Inc. portfolio, Khosrowshahi said that the company will do more deals in the next few years. Egencia looks to improve its platform innova