Company announces new technology platform,
marketplace, and traveler benefits at EXPLORE 22
At its annual partner event, EXPLORE, Expedia Group debuted a
three-tiered strategy to redefine its place in travel, including a
new technology platform to power the industry called Expedia Group™
Open World; a reimagined marketplace that rewards partners for
delivering great traveler experiences; and a focus on developing
traveler technology that provides the right information to increase
booking confidence.
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Expedia Group CEO, Peter Kern on stage at
EXPLORE 22 (Photo: Business Wire)
“This isn’t the Expedia Group we were two years ago, let alone
two decades ago,” said Vice Chairman and CEO, Peter Kern,
referencing the company’s inception in the late 1990s and the fact
that EXPLORE was last hosted live two years ago. “We spent the last
two years reimagining our potential and decided it was time for a
much-needed change. Rather than a market that has become
commoditized around price, we envision a world where travelers are
served the right option for their needs, with transparency around
value and expectations. We are excited to share the ways we are
bringing that to life.”
Expedia Group Open World Technology Platform
The company announced Expedia Group Open World, its new,
purpose-built technology platform created for partners of all sizes
to leverage and configure products and services needed to succeed
in the travel ecosystem. The platform will deliver an entire
ecommerce suite, with building blocks like, payments, fraud,
conversations, and service, that anyone can use to accelerate,
enhance, or even enter the travel business.
“Whether you’re a bank with a rewards program, an airline who
wants to expand their offering, a specialty travel agent focused on
underserved travelers, or a TikTok influencer helping the world
dream of their next destination, if you want to be in the travel
business, the Open World platform can help anyone succeed. Our
platform, combined with the new innovations we announced today, is
driven by our desire to put travelers first, because we
fundamentally believe that when travelers win – we all win,” added
Kern.
“By helping everyone take advantage of our technology and
supply, Open World will make it possible for our new and existing
partners to thrive in the travel market with a suite of solutions
tailored to their needs, all powered by our immense artificial
intelligence and machine learning capabilities,” said Rathi Murthy,
Chief Technology Officer, Expedia Group. “Choice is also accounted
for in our new platform. Partners will be able to pick and choose
exactly what works for them.”
As the platform matures, it will become a place where
developers, data scientists, marketers, entrepreneurs, and others
can create new ways to encourage and enable people to travel.
Reimagined Marketplace Rewards Partners for Traveler
Experience
Expedia Group also announced a reimagined marketplace that puts
traveler experience at its core. Using a breadth of data signals,
including traveler reviews, customer service interactions and more,
each hotel property will receive a new, guest experience score.
This score will directly impact the search and sort factors that
drive visibility in Expedia Group’s marketplace algorithm.
Partners will receive personalized insights and actionable
recommendations to improve their guest experience scores in line
with traveler expectations. Incentivizing partners to deliver
better experiences by shifting more bookings to those who score
well, the company expects to create better connections between
partners and travelers and greater traveler long-term loyalty for
all.
“We are redesigning our marketplace all around traveler
experience. Travelers search for the right experience at all price
points and all levels of star-rating. Our new marketplace will
reward partners that put traveler experience first and deliver on
the expectations that they’ve set,” said Ariane Gorin, President,
Expedia for Business. “We want travelers to have great experiences
and to make sure partners get credit for the experiences they
deliver. Our goal is to build trust with travelers.”
Hotel partners can see their guest experience score now by
logging into Expedia Group Partner Central. The guest experience
score will be visible to travelers in the coming months with plans
to roll out to other lines of business later in the year.
New Traveler Features to Build Transparency and
Confidence
The company also introduced three new features designed to add
confidence and trust to the travel shopping and booking
experience.
- Trip Boards: To enable a better travel planning
experience, Expedia Group is extending Trip Boards to more product
lines. Trip Boards serve as a homebase for all things trip related,
from hotels, to activities, flights and more, enabling travelers to
save and book items, and simplifying collaboration with travel
companions. Trip Boards is already successful on Vrbo and launches
this summer on Expedia, with additional collaboration features
later in the year.
- Smart shopping: Smart shopping makes it easier for
travelers to compare and choose between offers by surfacing a wider
range of options earlier and all in one place. For hotels, this
includes room attributes, categories, and upgrade opportunities.
For flights, this includes different timings, stopovers, seat
selection and baggage check. Smart shopping offers travelers more
transparency on their purchase, while partners are exposed to
incremental revenue opportunities. Smart shopping is live today for
hotels and coming soon for flights.
- Price tracking: Price tracking shows past trends and
future price predictions for flight searches. It empowers travelers
to see how their flight prices might change, reducing stress so
they can book with confidence at the right time. For partners, it
encourages travelers to consider and purchase flights they may
otherwise not book. Price tracking is available today on the
Expedia app on the US point-of-sale for flights. It will be
extended to hotels later this year.
Following the news from last year that Expedia Group would
create a new, unified loyalty program, the company announced that
this new program is called “One Key” and brings together four
different loyalty programs the company has under its umbrella. When
One Key launches next year, all members will, for the first time,
be able to earn and burn points on any of the Expedia Group brands,
like Expedia, Vrbo, Hotels.com and more, and on any of their travel
products, including air, hotel, vacation rental, car, and
cruise.
To hear more about Expedia Group Open World platform and
other news, please watch the General Session at EXPLORE 2022
available: http://livestream.exploreexpediagroup.com/
About Expedia Group
Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) companies power travel for
everyone, everywhere through our global platform. Driven by the
core belief that travel is a force for good, we help people
experience the world in new ways and build lasting connections. We
provide industry-leading technology solutions to fuel partner
growth and success, while facilitating memorable experiences for
travelers. Our organization is made up of four pillars: Expedia
Services, focused on the group’s platform and technical strategy;
Expedia Marketplace, centered on product and technology offerings
across the organization; Expedia Brands, housing all our consumer
brands; and Expedia for Business, consisting of
business-to-business solutions and relationships throughout the
travel ecosystem. The Expedia Group family of brands includes:
Expedia®, Hotels.com®, Expedia® Partner Solutions, Vrbo®, trivago®,
Orbitz®, Travelocity®, Hotwire®, Wotif®, ebookers®, CheapTickets®,
Expedia Group™ Media Solutions, CarRentals.com™, and Expedia
Cruises™.
For more information, visit www.expediagroup.com and follow us
on Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
© 2022 Expedia, Inc., an Expedia Group company. All rights
reserved. Trademarks and logos are the property of their respective
owners. CST: 2029030-50
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