Booking Site CEOs’ Most Quotable Moments of 2015


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Travel-booking CEOs say the darnedest things: the Priceline Group's Darren Huston basically said he didn't waste $4 billion on acquiring HomeAway, like he thinks Expedia did, and Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi let the word out that his company had been shut out of TripAdvisor Instant Booking. One can only wonder what they are saying to one another when they huddle in private.

Say that again? Sometimes a big-time travel CEO will say something especially insightful about a trend or development, or will unleash a zinger that takes you aback. Here are a series of quotes from 2015 that are worth repeating and reflecting on: Priceline Group CEO Didn't Spend $4 Billion on HomeAway In one such zinger, Priceline Group CEO Darren Huston commented on Expedia Inc.'s $3.9 billion acquisition of HomeAway and contrasted it with the Priceline Group's actions in the vacation rental sector. “I didn’t end up spending $4 billion, and we did it with just a couple of handful of people,” Huston said, referring to building Booking.com’s vacation rental business. “That is an indication of what makes our company special. It’s been organic execution, it has created more value for the company than M&A, and that continues to be our bet.” Priceline Group's Huston on Expedia's Business Practices and Strategy There have been a lot of layoffs at strug