Expedia Group, Inc. (EXPE) Business Profile

What it does

Expedia Group is a travel marketplace that helps people research, plan and book trips. Its websites and apps bring together lodging, flights, rental cars, cruises, activities, insurance and other services from travel suppliers. Travelers can book individual components or combine them into packages. The company also provides technology and travel inventory to other businesses and sells advertising to companies seeking to reach travelers.

Its consumer brands include Expedia, which offers a range of travel products; Hotels.com, which focuses on lodging; and Vrbo, an online marketplace for alternative accommodations. At the end of 2025, the marketplace had approximately 3.6 million lodging properties available and over 500 airlines. Vrbo accounted for approximately 2.4 million online bookable alternative accommodations within that lodging supply.

Businesses can use Expedia’s technology and inventory to sell travel under their own brands or through agent booking tools. Its majority-owned trivago business lets travelers compare accommodation prices and sends referrals to booking sites and travel providers. Expedia also gives suppliers tools to manage availability, reservations, pricing and promotions.

The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Seattle. Ariane Gorin is its chief executive officer.

How it makes money

For the year ended December 31, 2025, Expedia generated $14.7 billion in total revenue. In Q3 2026, revenue increased 12% year-over-year.

The company reports three segments: business-to-consumer (B2C), business-to-business (B2B) and trivago. B2C sells travel and advertising through consumer brands. B2B supplies travel content and technology to partners that sell to their own customers. Trivago earns advertising revenue primarily by sending travelers from its hotel comparison sites to online travel companies and providers.

Under the merchant model, Expedia is the merchant of record: the traveler generally pays Expedia when booking, and Expedia facilitates the reservation with the supplier. Most merchant transactions are lodging bookings. For hotel rooms, suppliers provide rates and availability, but Expedia does not control the rooms or bear inventory risk. Under the agency model, Expedia passes a reservation to the travel provider and receives commissions or ticketing fees from the supplier and/or traveler. Most agency gross bookings relate to air.

Participating hotels can offer travelers a choice between paying Expedia in advance and paying the hotel at the stay. Revenue recognition also depends on the service: Expedia generally records agency hotel revenue when the stayed night occurs, while it records air revenue when the traveler books. In 2025, lodging accounted for 80% of total worldwide revenue.

Vrbo primarily uses a pay-per-booking model and earns traveler service fees as well as revenue from insurance products. Advertising and media generated revenue from travel and non-travel advertisers across Expedia’s sites and apps. These models depend on bookings, stays or advertising activity rather than a stated recurring subscription stream.

Customers and how it sells

Expedia serves travelers around the world through consumer brands with different emphases. Expedia offers a range of trip components, Hotels.com focuses on lodging, and Vrbo specializes in whole-home inventory, primarily in North American leisure markets. Customers reach the brands through websites, mobile apps, call centers and links on affiliate sites. Expedia also markets through search, metasearch, social media, advertising and direct communications.

Its B2B customers include airlines, offline travel agents, online retailers, corporate travel management companies and financial institutions. These partners can access travel content through the Rapid API, use customized white-label or co-branded ecommerce templates, or book through Expedia’s travel agent tool. Qantas became the first partner to use Expedia’s agentic template, which combines its B2B technology, supply and servicing with a customizable interface.

Expedia operates globally and has continued to invest in expansion beyond its core markets. Its One Key loyalty program lets travelers earn and redeem rewards across Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo; it operates in the United States and United Kingdom and has expanded to additional Expedia markets. In Q3 2026, booked room nights grew 7% overall, with mid-single-digit growth in the United States, low-single-digit growth in EMEA and mid-teens growth in the rest of the world.

Suppliers and costs

Expedia’s suppliers include hotel companies, property owners and managers, airlines, car rental companies, cruise lines and destination service providers. The company contracts with lodging suppliers for rates and availability and provides tools that let suppliers manage inventory, reservations and promotions. Expedia also uses Amadeus and Sabre as global distribution system providers, primarily for air content.

The company does not manufacture the travel services it sells. Its websites and apps run primarily on cloud platforms, with some legacy company-owned data centers. Customer support uses a combination of outsourced and in-house contact centers. Marketing includes brand advertising, search, metasearch, social media and loyalty programs; affiliate partners receive commissions for traffic that produces bookings.

It was reported on 21 October 2026 that Expedia spent 60.3% of gross profit on sales and marketing over the last year. Expedia receives cash at booking for merchant transactions and generally pays lodging suppliers after travelers use the accommodation, making that operating cycle a source of working capital. The company said investments in its B2B travel offering and recent acquisitions were putting pressure on B2B margins.

Competitive position

Expedia competes with online travel agencies such as Booking.com, alternative accommodation providers such as Airbnb, hotel metasearch services, and travel suppliers selling directly to customers. Hotels and airlines can offer direct-booking incentives, including loyalty benefits or better prices. Expedia also competes for customer traffic on search and metasearch sites; Google has travel search products, while Kayak.com and TripAdvisor offer travel comparison and booking tools. Uber has added transportation and experience offerings through partnerships.

In B2B, Expedia competes with travel wholesalers, other online travel agencies offering business services, and technology and content providers. New AI-powered planning and assistance services also create competing travel offerings.

Expedia’s potential defenses include its lodging and airline supply, consumer brands, shared technology platform, B2B integrations and One Key loyalty program. Its brands let travelers combine services from multiple providers, while suppliers gain access to travelers through Expedia’s distribution channels.

Our reading: The breadth of Expedia’s supply and distribution is a meaningful competitive asset because it serves both travelers seeking choice and partners seeking bookings, although suppliers can also sell directly. Our reading: Loyalty and shared technology support repeat use and product development, but neither prevents customers from comparing alternatives or reaching competitors through search and emerging AI tools.

Growth opportunities

Expedia’s growth plans include expanding its consumer brands internationally, increasing repeat and direct bookings, and selling more travel services through existing and new B2B partners. It uses One Key across its core brands to let travelers earn and redeem rewards across products. The company is also investing in product features, customer service and technology that can be shared across its businesses.

In Q3 2026, B2B bookings grew 19%, while consumer bookings grew 7%. Expedia said it was expanding its B2B offering through an agentic template, an activities API and the acquisition of CarTrawler. The company also launched Reserve Now Pay Later across its brands and introduced a dynamic package search experience for customized trips.

Expedia is developing conversational experiences in its own products and working with outside platforms as travel discovery moves into new channels. It partnered with Google in AI mode and announced an integration with Meta. The company said traffic from agents remained small. It also introduced an agentic servicing experience on Vrbo that was resolving over 15% of inbound contacts within its first two months.

For the full year 2026, Expedia expects gross bookings of $131.4 billion to $131.9 billion and revenue of $16.37 billion to $16.43 billion. It expects adjusted EBITDA margin expansion of approximately 180 basis points to 200 basis points versus the prior year.

Structural risks

• Competition and acquisition costs. Expedia faces online travel agencies, supplier-direct channels, large online platforms and AI agents. Changes in search algorithms and traffic arrangements could negatively affect its business, while competition for search and metasearch traffic affects customer acquisition and marketing costs.
• Travel demand. Economic weakness, geopolitical disruption, travel restrictions, public health events and natural disasters can affect travel demand. Expedia said events in the Middle East and Europe were disrupting demand within those regions and along long-haul corridors.
• Supplier economics. Hotel chains seek direct bookings with lower rates and loyalty incentives. Expedia has reduced its hotel economics in some geographies, and promotions can reduce revenue per room night and profitability.
• Technology and regulation. Failure to maintain or improve systems, or adapt to AI and machine learning, could hurt operations. Alternative accommodations face evolving legal requirements, while privacy and other regulations add compliance complexity and costs.
• Debt and liquidity. At December 31, 2025, Expedia had outstanding long-term indebtedness, including current maturities, with a face value of $6.3 billion. Debt obligations can limit borrowing flexibility and require cash that could otherwise fund operations or investment.

Leadership

Expedia has common shares with one vote each and Class B shares with ten votes each. As of December 31, 2025, Chairman Barry Diller, related trusts and a family foundation collectively held all outstanding Class B shares, representing approximately 32% of total voting power.

Bottom line

Our reading

Expedia is a travel intermediary whose revenue depends heavily on lodging bookings, supported by consumer brands, supplier relationships and technology sold through business partners. (item1, item7) Its supply breadth and loyalty program help it reach both travelers and partners, but direct supplier sales, search competition and new AI interfaces put pressure on customer relationships and acquisition costs. (item1, item1a, item7) Growth initiatives expand the services it can offer partners, while investment and changing partner economics can weigh on margins. (call_qa, facts)