Booking and Expedia: A Post-Pandemic Hiring Spree Versus Modest Growth

Much has been written about whether major travel companies have recovered in revenue since the pandemic, but what about their employee rosters?

Booking Holdings laid off 6,100 employees, or 23% of its staff, in 2020, and froze hiring through the end of 2021.

According to its latest quarterly financial filing, Booking has built back up its staffing. Booking has boosted its employee ranks 19.2% to 24,200 as of September 30, 2024 versus December 31, 2021.

If Booking Holdings had not outsourced roughly 2,700 call center jobs to Majorel in 2022, its current workforce would have surpassed its 2019 level of 26,400.

At the end of 2023, the geographical mix of Booking’s workforce was Europe (47%), Asia Pacific (36%), North America (15%) and the rest of the world (2%). 

Booking Holdings’s revenue has more than recovered from the pandemic. Revenue in the third quarter of 2024 was close to $8 billion, 60% higher than in the third quarter of 2019.

Booking Holdings Employees 2019-2024

Note: The 2024 figure is through the end of the third quarter, not year-end like the others. Booking’s employee numbers are full-time employees only.
Source: Booking Holdings/SEC

Expedia’s Workforce Is Way Below 2019 Levels

By the end of 2023, Expedia had increased its workforce 15.5% from the pandemic low, to 17,100 employees. That was about one-third lower than in 2019. (Expedia’s numbers include full- and part-time employees. Booking’s numbers are full-time employees only.)

In early 2024, after a multiyear tech migration was completed, Expedia announced it was it was laying off about 9% of its labor force. With those cuts, its number of employees would be roughly around 15,600 — only about 5.4% higher than its pandemic lows.

One of the reasons for Expedia’s 2024 layoffs is that it bulked up its employee ranks to work on a multiyear tech migration involving its Hotels.com and Vrbo brands, and fired some of those employees when they completed the work.

Expedia Group Employees 2019-2024

Note: Expedia’s employee numbers include full- and part-time employees. Expedia hasn’t reported any 2024 employee numbers yet, but we estimated them based on its announcement early in 2024 that it was laying off 9% of its staff.
Source: Expedia Group/SEC 

Expedia Started Reorganizing Before the Pandemic

Expedia Group’s downsizing in 2020 and 2021 was not merely pandemic-related.

In February 2020 — before the potential impact of the pandemic was top of mind — Expedia Group chairman Barry Diller characterized the company as a “bloated organization.”

In early 2020, Expedia announced plans to trim 12% of its employee ranks, and then did additional layoffs later in the year. It finished 2020 with 19,100 employees, and then chopped off another 23% of its employee roster in 2021.

The initial layoffs were part of an Expedia Group reorganization that combined teams across its various brands. The company also sold and discontinued other brands.

As of the second quarter of 2024, Expedia Group’s revenue of $3.558 billion was within shouting distance of the comparable period in pre-pandemic 2019, but had not reached the earlier mark. The company reports its third quarter financials on Thursday.

Expedia’s employees are located in more than 50 countries.