Expedia News

The integration of Orbitz for Business into Egencia is nearing its conclusion.

Expedia checked off several items atop its acquisition shopping list in 2015 but it isn't done yet. As its CEO says, "We will continue to shoot bullets and see what's out there in the world."

Expedia is upsetting the proverbial apple cart in introducing hotels bidding against one another for prime placement in Expedia's search results. It's a bold move that could have a far-reaching impact across the online travel agency and hotel industries.

Don't downplay the importance of intangibles and narratives in the online travel business. Expedia won 2015. Booking.com won't sit back in 2016. In this transitional year in online travel and lodging on so many levels, you can expect that Booking.com will be heard from.

What do you get the online travel agency that seemingly has everything it can have? Several majority investments, apparently, as Expedia is on an investment spree of sorts across various sectors of the travel industry.

Rate parity and most-favored nation provisions are slowly fading as Marriott and Hilton offer lower rates to new and existing loyalty program members on their own sites than Expedia and Booking.com can. Don't underplay the power of a several-dollar discount in the race toward bolstering loyalty-program rosters through the lure of bottom-of-the-heap pricing.

Alice is Expedia's latest foray into hotel technology as it previously signed a deal with Checkmate. Investing in these platforms can help create better guest experiences at Expedia's partner hotels, which in turn makes for a closer business relationship between Expedia and hotels.

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.

If the integration goes as Expedia and HomeAway envision then this merger can turn out to be transformational for both companies. If that becomes the reality, then the Expedia acquisition of Orbitz may end up being viewed in coming years as a mere footnote in Expedia's timeline when compared with the HomeAway buy.