Expedia Not Backing Away From Costly Pursuit of a More Loyal Customer
Skift Take
The online travel agent is playing the long game when it comes to onboarding as many long-term value customers as possible, turning them into members and eventually putting them onto its loyalty program. CEO Peter Kern is clearly a patient man.
Expedia will continue to invest in gaining long-term value customers despite the risk of losing bookings to its competitors, as it focuses on brand awareness, paid app downloads and its loyalty program.
Expedia is prioritizing these customers in its marketing, shifting towards longer-term channels, including app downloads and other methods to capture traveler intent outside of classic performance channels.
Costs for "selling and marketing — direct" were $1.5 billion, 55 percent up on the same quarter last year, it revealed in its third-quarter results on Thursday.
That means fewer paid ads, which could allow competitors to benefit from cheaper k
