Skift Take
Expedia's B2B business has penetrated international markets through partnerships that its consumer businesses have been unable to reach. Competitors are watching and are trying a similar tack.
Is Expedia Group's $25 billion B2B business diluting its consumer businesses, including Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo, or is it a big advantage for the Group?
The question relates to Expedia Group's partner business, the one that powers travel programs for Delta, American Express Global Business Travel, JPMorgan Chase, Marriott Vacations, Walmart, Trip.com, and 60,000 others.
Expedia Group CEO Ariane Gorin addressed the issue head-on at an investor conference last week. In a Powerpoint presentation and her remarks, Gorin said the B2B business is "incremental" to Expedia's consumer businesses, largely because the partner business involves different use cases.
For example, Gorin said that in 2023 about 30% of the B2B bookings involved travelers redeeming their credit card points for hotels or redeeming airline miles "in a loyalty environment" on third-party websites – "so things that our brands wouldn't do themselves," she said.
In addition, some 60% of the bookings in the B2B bus