Expedia Says Half of Recent Vrbo Customers Were New
Skift Take
If Expedia Group's Vrbo secretly wanted to be another brand, Airbnb would be it. Vrbo has been playing second fiddle to its short-term rental rival, the word-of-mouth sensation. But Vrbo racked up some marketing accomplishments in the first quarter worth crowing about — and that might catch the eyes of rivals Airbnb and Booking.com.
"We're seeing lots of new customers coming to the product [Vrbo]," Peter Kern, Expedia Group vice-chairman and CEO, during an earnings call on Monday. "I think in the first quarter around 50 percent of it was new customers."
Vrbo generated bookings "above 2019 levels" in the quarter. One driver was a group marketing push — think brand marketing, such as TV ads during cable TV news, and "performance marketing," such as buyin
