Expedia: You’ll Have to Wait Longer to See Hard Data on Our Rebuild Progress
Photo Credit: An idealized vacation scene. Expedia Group said its Vrbo vacation rental unit is not seeing the trend toward long-term stays that others — namely Airbnb — are seeing. Expedia Group
Skift Take
Expedia Group is still very much caught up in making over the company. Is it working? Company officials are basically telling Wall Street — trust us, we think this is going to be good.
Expedia Group, in releasing its fourth quarter earnings Thursday, saw plenty of cause for optimism, but as far as quantifying its progress in terms of its two-year-old restructuring and rebuilding drive, the message was you'll have to wait until the travel industry reverts to a semblance of normal to quantify the gains.
While rival Airbnb, which reports fourth quarter earnings next week, basks in its brand awareness and proclivity in attracting bookers directly, Expedia Group's selling and marketing expense line in the fourth quarter was 45.8 percent of revenue. Selling and marketing expense climbed 106 percent to more than $1 billion.
Commenting on Expedia Group's push to render its marketing efforts more efficient, CEO Peter Kern said during a call with analysts: "So the short answer is, we made a huge amount of progress, as I said, in terms of tools, in terms of data, in terms of insights, in terms of being able to test and learn across a much broader swath
