Expedia News

Hotels charging resort fees now have the choice of paying higher commissions to Booking.com and/or seeing their properties fall in Expedia's sort order. The other change that many don't want to make is to simply — and painfully — stop charging anti-consumer resort fees.

A new study from Expedia Group Media Solutions explores how the world’s youngest generation is influencing family travel.

When Priceline ended traveler fees on airline bookings a decade ago, the other online travel agencies generally followed. Whether Expedia will match Booking.com and start charging hotels commissions on resort fees is a much more complex issue. Part of it depends on how much resistance Booking gets from hotels to its new policy.

It's obvious that executives from Booking, Expedia, and Rakuten are laying odds that AirAsia won't be very successful in striving to add online travel agency services. Several airlines have already tried and failed at it, although AirAsia seems to be undertaking a much more thoughtful and rigorous approach.

Some are too scared to say so publicly, but much of the travel industry would welcome a diminution of Google's vast market power. If a U.S. regulatory probe gets going against Big Tech, it is a very open question how far-reaching a remedy might be in the offing.

Lots of companies have plenty of data at their disposal to improve operations and personalize services. Whether AirAsia has the wherewithal to become a much broader e-commerce platform is a very open question.

Network airlines have long sought to drive out low-cost carriers by matching fares in certain markets. But now, equipped with basic economy fares and other options, United Airlines' Kirby vows to match the fares of new entrants in a much more rigorous way.

Get ready for some commotion in Las Vegas and other destinations where hotel resort fees are common. Will impacted hotels abandon Booking.com? Will resort fees lose their appeal for hotels? Will Expedia follow Booking's lead? The fun and gamesmanship are just starting.

The same rules that apply to run-of-the-mill travel sellers do not necessarily apply to Amazon. While cash back on flights in India may seem loss-generating and unsustainable, for Amazon it could be a winning strategy.

It's certainly possible that United may walk away from Expedia on September 30 if the two parties can't reach a new contract. Expedia is downplaying the financial impact, but the repercussions would be far-reaching — and would amount to a big hit to the Expedia brand.