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– Image Credit Expedia
Expedia Group CEO Ariane Gorin has outlined three strategies for leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to drive the company’s growth and improve services.
Expedia Group’s new Chief Financial Officer, Scott Schenkel, described the company’s Q4 and full-year 2024 financial reports as robust. The company reported revenue of $3.1 billion in Q4, up 10% year over year. This growth was primarily driven by a 21% increase in B2B revenue and a 25% surge in advertising revenue, alongside growth in all three of its B2C brands—Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo.
CEO Ariane Gorin, nearing her one-year anniversary in the position, revealed that the company is now focusing on three priorities for the year ahead, powered by artificial intelligence (AI). These priorities involve delivering more value for travelers, investing in growth areas, and driving operating efficiencies to expand margins.
The company’s AI strategies are divided into three “buckets.” The first focuses on using AI to improve products for B2B partners and travelers. The second strategy entails adapting to changing travel behaviors by ensuring the company’s brands feature prominently in new AI-based search platforms. The third strategy involves partnering with “native AI travel startups.”
Gorin also highlighted growth at Vrbo and Hotels.com, which had previously struggled due to a transition to the company’s new tech platform. The successful turnaround was attributed to strategic work on Vrbo’s product, marketing, and supply that helped fuel growth in 2024, with plans to continue this momentum in 2025. Similarly, Hotels.com, which was significantly impacted by the tech migration and changes to OneKey, has big plans for rejuvenation in 2025.
Gorin also mentioned that gross bookings in Q4 were $24.4 billion, up 13% year over year, and for the full year, they were at $111 billion, up 7%. B2C gross bookings were $2 billion and B2B were $1 billion in Q4, up 6% and 21% respectively year over year.
Gorin concluded by noting that international demand was stronger than in the U.S., with booked room nights growing in the high single digits in the U.S. but the low double digits in Europe and high teens in the rest of the world.
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