What is Expedia?

One of the world’s largest full service travel sites, in the last 20 years, the platform has sold enough hotel room nights to account for every person living in the United States. Not only a channel for booking accommodation, travellers can book flights, cruises, attractions and car rentals; as well as Expedia Holidays. The Expedia group includes affiliate channels such as Hotels.com, Thomas Cook and American Express Travel. The Expedia Group also own travel metasearch engine Trivago, and vacation rental platform VRBO.

According to Rich Barton, the company founder, the brand name is derived from a combination of the words ‘exploration’ and ‘speed’. Originally formed in 1996 as a small division within Microsoft, Expedia say their continued growth is fuelled by consumer love of travel. They have a usability lab where researchers monitor what customers book and shop for, in order to better understand their needs. They then use those observations to improve the site experience, making it one of the best travel sites for user experience, and a lucrative channel for hosts to advertise a vacation rental. Find out more about the Travelnest partnership with Expedia here.