Online Travel Update: Expedia continues to overhaul their leadership; Sabre partners with ByHours to distribute hourly room rentals; Google Travel includes vacation rentals alongside traditional lodging accomodations in search results
This week's Update features a couple of stories (including one by Seattle's own Geekwire.com) detailing the recent executive shake up at Expedia. Enjoy.
Expedia's Re-Structuring
Continues
("Expedia Group Hires Top Execs From Apple and Verizon as
Part of Leadership Structure Overhaul," May 24, 2021 via
GeekWire; "Expedia Trims Business Units, Sees a Trio of
Executive Departures," May 24, 2021 via Skift Travel
News (subscription may be required))
Over the past few weeks, we've featured stories detailing
Expedia's ongoing re-structuring efforts. Last week saw another
big change at Expedia as the company announced the departures of
veterans, Cyril Ranque, Adam Jay and Tucker Moodey. Ranque's
departure is particularly interesting as Ranque, the Travel
Partners Group President, had been featured prominently in many
supplier contract issues and negotiations. Joining Expedia are two
top executives from Apple and Verizon, Jon Gieselman and Rathii
Murthy, respectively. Gieselman will oversee the newly created
business unit, "Expedia Brand," while Murthy becomes
Expedia's new Chief Technology Officer. With these changes,
Expedia also announced the creation of four new consolidated
business units or "key pillars" within Expedia –
Expedia Services, Expedia Brands, Expedia Marketplace and Expedia
for Business. It will be interesting to note where Expedia's
products and services fall within these units and how the units
will work together to sell these products and services to their key
supplier partners.
Sabre Begins Distributing Hourly Room
Rentals
("Sabre Partners With ByHours to Sell Hotel Rooms by
the Hour," May 27, 2021 via PhocusWire)
Global distribution system, Sabre, announced this past week that it
has partnered with booking platform, ByHours, to offer travel
agents and their clients hourly room reservations. The
partnership is a first for the legacy distribution providers.
Barcelona-based, ByHours, claims to be the first online platform to
offer hourly stays.
Vacation Rentals Continue Their March Toward
Accommodation Legitimacy.
("Google Travel Adds Vacation Rentals Alongside Hotels
in Search Results," May 27, 2021 via
PhocusWire)
Although not the first to feature vacation rental listings
alongside traditional accommodations (both Booking.com and Expedia
do so today), Google's announced listing changes last week
garnered a lot of attention. As of last Thursday, travelers
searching Google for accommodations in a particular jurisdiction
may see available vacation rentals alongside traditional hotel room
accommodations in the same search result. According to
Google, the combined listings will be ranked based on relevance to
the traveler's search query. While the combined listing
format may not be new, Google's use of the combined listings
signals a broader recognition of travelers' growing demands for
hotel room alternatives and for those hoteliers who have found
success with the Google metasearch product, the potentially
dilutive effect of the combined listings may make their direct
booking efforts more difficult.
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