Expedia Pulls Vrbo Rental Listings From Google to Drive More Direct Traffic
Photo Credit: An idealized vacation scene. Expedia Group
Skift Take
Expedia Group will restart its marketing machine in phases. First, it will tout its vacation rental brands like Vrbo. By around April, it will roll out a campaign touting Expedia as a place for booking "the complete trip." It makes sense to pay for those efforts partly by cutting some of its Google investment.
Expedia Group anticipates that consumers will return to booking travel in large numbers over time, and it aims to make the most of that in a phased marketing plan. The company is focusing on making the most of that effort by building up its own brands rather than others, like Google.
Executives believe the alternative accommodations sector will continue to see more strength relative to other travel products in the near term. So the first phase of its marketing plan will involve a modest blitz around Vrbo, its vacation rental brand that's strong in North America, and its other vacation rental brands that are strongest in their respective markets, such as its Stayz brand in Australia.
"In that vein, we have actually removed Vrbo from Google's vacation rental meta product," said Peter Kern, the vice chairman and CEO of Expedia Group, when discussing earnings results with investment analysts on Thursday. "It was not a particularly critical piece of our business, and it was not adding
