Expedia: What Went Wrong? Lessons To Reflect On
It's interesting that at Phocuswright last month, I was having a conversation with a senior leader in online travel about the changes going on at Expedia Group.
I had just come from Explore '19, the Expedia conference which, for the first time charged delegates about US$500 to attend, and jokes had been made as to whether this was a new ancillary revenue for the group that had not posted stellar results in the last financial quarter.
I was more interested in the transformation strategy Okerstrom had brought into the group, essentially breaking down the silos between business units to deliver on the promise of a "frictionless travel experience".
Okerstorm said he believed Expedia has all the assets - flights, hotels/vacation rentals, cruise, tours and activities; insurance; tech platform; talent; and data - to reduce friction at every point of the travel experience and he spoke of "unlocking the full power of our global platform to drive change of another kind".
And his newly-unveiled leadership team on stage had referred to this as Expedia's "Everest", after a keynote speaker asked everyone to think about their Everest moments.
