Expedia CEO Shrugs Off Google’s New Data Tools as Competitive Threat

Online Travel This Week

In some quarters, it seemed as though the world might be ending for online travel agencies because Google launched new data tools for hotels and tourism boards in Asia-Pacific to help them track and analyze travel demand.

The tools are free for partners and non-customers alike, which is designed to help them, but also to assist Google in foraging for new potential advertisers from the long- tail of candidates.

One investor note, from Bernstein opined that the Google tools are a market share threat to online travel agencies, contending that “the new products encroach on another material source of OTA revenues: data support to B2B partners.”

The Bernstein note smells like overkill to me, but as they say in baseball, the player lineups may look like is one thing, “but that’s why they play the games.”

Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern was having none of it, and he pushed back against the dire predictions about the new Google products at a presser during Expedia Group’s partner conference Wednesday.

Kern said that Expedia Group will always have the advantage when providing valuable data to partners because Google is at the top of the proverbial funnel, offering data merely about clicks, while Expedia can offer more meaningful transaction data.

Expedia, he said, has more in-depth data about the dates of stay, and pricing.

Kern said sardonically that Google should do something data-wise for partners considering all “the money we give them.”

On another subject, Airbnb’s imminent initial public offering, Kern said it probably was a wise strategy for Airbnb, as detailed in its registration statement, to reduce its ambitions in terms of adding flights and hotels, and to focus on its core strengths in short-term rentals.

The Airbnb registration statement, although “not terribly surprising,” confirmed that Expedia’s Vrbo vacation rental brand gained market share against Airbnb this year in the United States, although Airbnb has more global depth, he said.

The registration statement likewise highlighted the fact that Airbnb’s business is concentrated at lower average daily rates than Vrbo’s, Kern added.

Kern praised Airbnb as doing much to popularize the short-term rental category, although Expedia’s own Vrbo/HomeAway unit had been around much longer. He labeled Airbnb the “the tissue brand of the category.”

But don’t cry for Airbnb — whatever happens to its stock market debut, it will be a very interesting week.

In Brief

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Millennials Are Bullish on RV Rentals During the Pandemic

An RVShare survey of 1,000 travelers found that Millennials are the group most likely to rent a recreational vehicle in 2021. Baby Boomers trailed badly. Jon Gray, the CEO of RVShare will speak at the Skift Short-Term Rental and Outdoor Summit on Thursday. Phocuswire

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Frontdesk Assumed Stay Alfred’s Property Management Contracts
Property management company Frontdesk picked up the contracts for 55 properties from Stay Alfred, which was a coronavirus casualty. Stay Alfred, which managed 2,200 units at one point, shuttered in May. Skift