Expedia News

Google has argued for years that its boxed-up and featured hotel, flight, and restaurant results are highlighted because they provide users with the "best answers." But in Europe, regulators may have pushed Google to acquiesce, offering its competitors some air time in its featured results by testing direct links.

Online booking sites still treat potential customers with disdain using manipulative marketing tactics. As airlines and hotel chains have adopted these methods, it calls into question what a world without them would really look like. Google offers a hint.

Online travel companies have faced intense regulatory scrutiny almost since the first days of internet bookings. But "you've got mail" these days is less likely to be a cheery email notification than a demand for court appearances and audits.

It increasingly looks like what we expected will happen will come true: Chairman Barry Diller is likely to make Expedia Group's acting boss Peter Kern the permanent CEO. It's very probable, too, that Diller is shopping the online agency giant to potential buyers. But who would buy?

Airlines, hotels, and booking sites have divergent reasons for leaning into or out of TV advertising. Attracting more direct bookers is always a goal, but sometimes competitive reasons, or the emergence of new platforms, skew the TV budgets.

Despite explosive growth, cracks in the global travel sector began to multiply over the last decade. More change and trouble will come before the industry can figure itself out again.

Airbnb overtook Expedia in room nights booked in the first quarter of 2019, but questions loom for 2020. Will Airbnb lose its focus as it vows to go public and become a broader online travel agency? Will Expedia, which seems lost in terms of creating a revised strategy, find its way? So many headlines to come.

When you consider Mark Okerstrom's performance, which will lead to a golden parachute substantially less than what might have been, he can take a bunch of blame — but not for everything. The integration of the Vrbo acquisition was clearly messed up, as was the reorganization. Conversely, he inherited a very tough competitive environment.

Nobody has found the best formula for regulation of the short-term rental industry. But hotel groups and rental platforms both realize that the outcomes of early battles will set precedents for future laws. This might explain why they are so willing to confront and call each other out publicly.

New players create unique tours such as an inside look at the disappearing trades of Singapore. If they aren’t encouraged and supported, the city’s inbound travel agencies could disappear.