Expedia Group experienced several high-profile wins (Delta Air Lines for car rentals) and losses (Chase for flights and cars) in its partner business in recent months, but its effort overall to seize more opportunity in its business-to-business segment started to show progress in the second quarter.
Since becoming Expedia Group CEO in 2020, Peter Kern has been trying to simplify Expedia’s operations by shedding brands and consolidating teams that were sometimes working at cross-purposes. He also decided to invest more heavily in Expedia Group’s partner business.
During the company’s second-quarter earnings call with analysts Thursday, officials recounted how the company ceased powering flights and cars for Chase in February (it still provides lodging), and in the second quarter began providing car rentals to Delta.com to supplement the hotels it was already supplying.
Chase is poised to launch a larger travel portal and is talking about potentially reaching $8 billion in sales by 2025. Expedia Chief Financial Officer Eric Hart said the Expedia-Chase lodging partnership is performing well, and although the now-gone flights and car rental relationship boosted Expedia’s gross bookings, it didn’t have a significant impact on Expedia’s profitability.
During the second quarter, Expedia Group became the exclusive hotel partner for Avios, the rewards partner for British Airways and Iberia, and began powering the travel portal for Bilt Rewards, a loyalty program for rentals.
In the quarter, Expedia Group’s business-to-business segment generated $156 million in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) compared with a $4 million loss a year earlier. Revenue in that segment grew 113 percent to $650 million.
Tags: Expedia Group
