Expedia News and Updates

Expedia Group is one of the most influential players in online travel, with a portfolio of brands and platforms that shape the digital booking landscape. PhocusWire provides timely, in-depth coverage of Expedia news and updates, including leadership changes, platform innovation, and shifts in its global strategy across lodging, air, and experiences.

The latest developments from Expedia and the OTA market

Track how Expedia is evolving its technology stack, streamlining traveler engagement, and reimagining its marketplace to compete in a rapidly changing OTA environment. Our reporting includes insights on product development, loyalty integration, and strategic partnerships that reflect broader trends in online travel retail.

Australia gives hotels more leeway to compete with Expedia and Booking.com
News / Distribution
Australia gives hotels more leeway to compete with Expedia and Booking.com
By Kevin May | September 2, 2016
Another nail in the parity coffin, perhaps, following an Australian regulator's move to restrict rate contracts by Booking.com and Expedia. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says, Read More
Expedia promises investigation over bait and switch allegation
News / Distribution
Expedia promises investigation over bait and switch allegation
By Kevin May | August 30, 2016
Expedia Inc says it will look in to whether its own regulations were followed correctly after being accused of a "bait and switch" scam. A California, US-based property, Buckeye Tree Lodge And Sequ Read More
Direct hotel bookings, loyalty and the clandestine world of closed user groups
News / Technology
Direct hotel bookings, loyalty and the clandestine world of closed user groups
By Viewpoints | August 26, 2016
Loyalty schemes have been front and centre in advertising campaigns from the large hotel chains this year, as they look to increase their proportion of direct bookings. One notable aspect of this i Read More
In a first, Expedia promotes a hotel’s loyalty rates and rewards program
News / Distribution
In a first, Expedia promotes a hotel’s loyalty rates and rewards program
By Sean O'Neil | August 23, 2016
Expedia, Inc., is the first online travel intermediary to begin displaying a hotel chain's discounted loyalty rates next to standard rates. It's also the first to cheerlead for a hotel's own loyalty p Read More
Direct hotel booking battle - a potted history [INFOGRAPHIC]
News / Distribution
Direct hotel booking battle - a potted history [INFOGRAPHIC]
By Kevin May | August 23, 2016
The seeds of the current face-off between hotels and intermediaries go back to the mid-1990s, when online travel agencies first arrived on the scene. The creation of Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, L Read More
Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and Wotif quietly add natural language search to their homepages
News / Online
Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, and Wotif quietly add natural language search to their homepages
By Sean O'Neil | August 22, 2016
Last month, Expedia Inc quietly rolled out natural-language search to its platforms. The "Search Anything" feature has been added as a tab to the homepages of most of its English-language platform sit Read More
Travel tech CEO allegedly fell for a €1.5 million scam before his fatal flight
News
Travel tech CEO allegedly fell for a €1.5 million scam before his fatal flight
By Sean O'Neil | August 22, 2016
In the days in July before his chartered plane crashed in Slovenia, Thomas Wagner, founder of Germany's largest homegrown seller of package tours, was conned out of €1.5 million, say investigators. Read More
New Expedia Labs site shows off test projects, to get feedback
News
New Expedia Labs site shows off test projects, to get feedback
By Sean O'Neil | August 16, 2016
Today a new site appeared from Expedia, Inc.,'s engineering team: Expedia Labs, which shows off the company's experimental travel tech projects, such as its Facebook bot and its prototype cruise-compa Read More
The state of online travel agency bookings in charts
News / Distribution
The state of online travel agency bookings in charts
By Kevin May | August 4, 2016
Whilst bots and other future-tech items get many of the headlines in 2016, there is undoubtedly a war of words out there between the intermediaries and hotels. The latest salvo (coming the same day Read More
Direct now cheaper than agencies for majority of hotel searches
News / Distribution
Direct now cheaper than agencies for majority of hotel searches
By Kevin May | August 4, 2016
Maybe the regulatory restrictions are starting to get through, or something else - data-crunching has shown that 53% of rates are now cheaper on hotel websites than intermediaries. Checks on over 2 Read More
Expedia sees no hit from hotel chain direct booking campaigns
News / Distribution
Expedia sees no hit from hotel chain direct booking campaigns
By Sean O'Neil | July 28, 2016
Expedia Inc reported its second quarter earnings today, and it had a rosy picture on many metrics. But one metric stood out to investors for its sluggish pace, namely, the pace of room night growth. Read More
Travel agency group hits back at European hotels over distribution criticism
News / Distribution
Travel agency group hits back at European hotels over distribution criticism
By Kevin May | July 27, 2016
European hotels should consider the effort that online travel agencies put into the marketplace before rubbishing the system. That's the strong response from the European Technology and Travel Serv Read More
Booking.com and Expedia take four out of five agency bookings in Europe
News / Distribution
Booking.com and Expedia take four out of five agency bookings in Europe
By Kevin May | July 27, 2016
More evidence of a so-called duopoly coming into play as Expedia and Booking.com land 80% of all European hotel sales on online travel agencies. European hospitality association HOTREC estimates th Read More
Orbitz and CheapTickets test car rental reviews, other Expedia brands to follow
News
Orbitz and CheapTickets test car rental reviews, other Expedia brands to follow
By Sean O'Neil | July 21, 2016
Not consigning the reviews universe to its former stablemate TripAdvisor, Expedia, Inc., continues to show an interest in building up its own database of reviews and using that to help suppliers. I Read More
Expedia buys travel photo sharing and destination guide Trover
News / Online
Expedia buys travel photo sharing and destination guide Trover
By Kevin May | July 21, 2016
Funny how these things turn out - but Expedia Inc has bought the once heavily touted Trover for an undisclosed fee. In short, Trover is a social travel guide in pictures, on desktop and mobile, ena Read More
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