Seattle-based online travel giant Expedia Group posted better-than-expected results for the second quarter, saying travel demand remained strong despite an uncertain economy and the global impact of COVID-19.
- Revenue was $3.2 billion, up more than 50% from last year’s second quarter, and up 1% from 2019, the last comparable quarter before the outbreak.
- Adjusted earnings were $1.96 per share, compared with a loss of $1.13 per share a year ago. Wall Street expects earnings of $1.58 per share and $3 billion in revenue.
- Total bookings were $26.1 billion, up 26 percent from $20.8 billion a year ago.
- Net loss was $185 million, compared to a loss of $301 million a year ago.
The company continues to move its online travel brands into one platform, most recently focusing on moving Hotels.com into Expedia’s tech stack, Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern told analysts on a conference call.
“We’ve accelerated that over the last two quarters because the benefits of being able to grow brands that are on the same stack as our big two[online travel agencies]are enormous,” Kern said. However, “migration generally disrupts the customer experience, and can affect conversion in the short term,” he says, adding that the company “had to make some choices to prioritize speed over perfection.”
Hotels.com’s front-end migration is nearly complete, which is “freeing up engineers who can now turn their attention to full-stack optimization,” Kern said, citing the company’s decision to “trade modest short-term disruption for significant long-term growth.”
Headquartered on the Seattle waterfront, the Expedia Group includes travel brands such as vrbo, Orbitz, Hotwire, Trivago, Hotels.com and Egencia in addition to the core Expedia.com.
Kern cited Expedia Group’s new integrated loyalty program as part of a larger effort to improve customer retention.
“Traffic has never been a problem in travel; it’s always been a question of staying,” he said. And finally, we intend to invest our time and money in hunting again and again in the wild.
Shares rose more than 5% in extended trading after the earnings report.
