New Expedia CEO: Building Vrbo, Loyalty, and AI Tools

Ariane Gorin was on the Skift Global Forum stage for the first time since becoming CEO of Expedia Group. Gorin took the role on May 13 and moved to Seattle after living in London and Paris for the past 23 years. 

She kicked off the final day of the forum on Thursday, her first appearance as CEO at a travel industry conference, with a discussion about the future of Vrbo, loyalty, AI, and more.

Rebuilding the Company

Expedia Group recently completed a tech migration that brought together its three core brands — Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo — and their data onto one platform. That led to some decreases in business as the company was focused on the migration.

• “During those migrations, brand Expedia, which was the least disrupted brand, has done really well. We grew room nights 20% in the second quarter, and it’s benefited from all of our innovations. But Hotels.com and Vrbo, where we migrated the front end — in some cases, they took a step back. And so what we’re really focused on with the team is, how do we build back the things that maybe we’ve taken a step back on. And really get clear on, what is it going to take to get those businesses in a really healthy spot and growing well.”

Getting More Vrbo Customers

Expedia Group’s tech migration has meant that brands can more easily share inventory. Vrbo recently added some apartments that had been listed on brand Expedia, and Expedia added homes that are listed on Vrbo.

Apartments aren’t full homes, which Vrbo has been known for, but the basic offer of the brand is staying the same — Vrbo rentals will never include an on-premises host. 

The inventory expansion is among the changes Vrbo is making to add more customers after it pulled back marketing during its tech migration.

The company has also been adding comparison shopping features and rebuilding its group trip planning feature, among other changes.

• “There’s a lot of work on the product, there’s work in the marketing, but also we’re going into new channels. We feel very strongly about the future of Vrbo.” 

Building the One Key Loyalty Program

Expedia Group last year folded multiple loyalty programs for Expedia, Hotels.com and Orbitz brands into a single loyalty plan called One Key. 

The point of the program is to earn and spend points across the three big brands: Expedia, Vrbo and Hotels.com. It’s working well in some cases, she said: 30% of the people who shopped at Vrbo after earning points on Expedia were new customers to Vrbo, for example.

Not all regions have all three brands, however, so the company is deciding how to move forward. The company paused the rollout of the loyalty program after the U.S. and the UK. 

• “We’re taking our time to figure it out.”
• “Outside of the U.S. and the UK, travelers are still benefiting from our … silver and gold member deals, even if we haven’t rolled out One Key across the world. It’s great for our hotel partners because they’re getting access to incremental demand.” 

AI Trip Planning 

Expedia earlier this year released Romie, a generative AI-powered tool that the company called a travel agent, concierge, and personal assistant.

That’s one of several experiments with generative AI tools that Expedia has been piloting. Others include AI to summarize reviews and to help streamline call center operations. 

• “To the question of when and how is it going to completely change the way people travel, it’s going to take time.”
• “Until the AI search can be good enough to really respond to what people need, it’s not going to make a massive shift in the way people are shopping.”