Expedia CEO: Math and Strategy Are 'In Our Favor'
Skift Take
Expedia's HomeAway unit isn't as profitable as the parent company initially envisioned, and Booking.com rained on Trivago's parade. Still, Expedia itself — and financial analysts — are optimistic about Expedia's long-term prospects. Regardless of the promise, these are very challenging days in online travel.
Are Expedia's best days behind it?
After Expedia, Priceline and TripAdvisor all hit third quarter speed bumps, some are wondering whether the incumbent online travel leaders are entering a new, less-expansive era with up-and-coming players such as Airbnb, Google and Ctrip, for example, poised to assert a new dominance.
We put that question to Expedia Inc. CEO Mark Okerstrom, who cautioned that short-term financial and operational metrics and difficulties should not be viewed as indicative of future trends.
"The math is absolutely in our favor," Okerstrom said, referring to things such as the global shift from offline to online booking, the growth of middle classes in developing countries, and the fact that online travel companies still account for only a mid-single-digit share of $1.6 trillion global travel market.
"I think strategy is in our favor," said Okerstrom, who was speaking during a media session Thursday at the Expedia Partner Conference in Las Vegas.
On the strategy front, Okerstrom argued that Expedia is the largest "and only truly global platform" and will use that position to its advantage. In the third quarter, Expe
