Expedia up to something? Many sites down on same day as financial results

UPDATE: All sites back up... "We did make some critical improvements earlier," an official says.

And on Twitter:

Original post:

Now either Expedia Inc has something major to announce at its Q1 2010 earnings call later today or a major upgrade was given a rather quirky schedule time.

First look suggests many Expedia sites around the world are currently down.

From the US site:

"Expedia is temporarily unavailable while we improve the travel tools and services that you rely on. We're sorry for any inconvenience, and thank you for your patience. We look forward to helping you find your perfect trip—be sure to check back with us shortly."

The UK version of Expedia even offers a handy link to sister site TripAdvisor. Other Expedia sites, Hotels.com and eLong, appear to be operating normally.

Watch this space...