I am sitting in the front row, getting ready for the start of the Expedia Partner Conference 2015 at the Bellagio, Las Vegas.
There couldn’t be a more appropriate place for a meeting by this giant of giants in travel. Las Vegas is a place where everything is bigger than big, and size is everything.
At the check-in at Hard Rock Hotel, the staff apologises for the fact that “our hotel may not be the biggest” but makes up for it with “but we are surely the most entertaining”.
Even so, you have to walk across aisles of slot machines to get to your room – it’s all part of the Vegas experience – but in this land of giant hotels, Hard Rock could indeed be called an intimate experience.
Well, this Expedia event could hardly be called intimate. More than 3,000 delegates from 50 countries, 2,100 of whom are at this 16th partner conference for the first time.
Even though I am a first-time attendee, I can sense how the Expedia world has changed – inevitable really considering the $7.4b it’s spent thus far in strategic acquisitions spread across the globe.
From an American company with some international presence, it has evolved into a truly global company with serious presence across the globe.
Within the US, the Orbitz deal has just been closed, bringing to $65b the total dollar volume in demand generated by the group (from $55.4b) and VP and GM Hair Nair made his first appearance at the event, introducing the Orbitz and Cheaptickets brands. The HomeAway deal is being finalised.
In Australia, Wotif is firmly in the family and is seeing a 50% increase in conversions following migration to the Expedia platform. And it is likely we will see this brand make a comeback to Asia, going after the Australians travelling to and within Asia. This is a market it’s long been after but never quite managed to crack.
Its European acquisition Trivago has seen growth in the last four years from 14m unique visitors to 120m, and it’s now in 33 languages and 55 markets, and the US has become “by far the largest point of sale”, said CEO and president Dara Khosrowshahi (pictured left).
In Asia, it is relocating one of its most senior executives, Greg Schulze, senior vice president, global air & tour business, to Singapore and head of the region. It was interesting to hear him talk about how he intended to build up the packages and cruise business in Asia.
It is clear the prize Expedia is after, to paraphrase what I heard at this conference – “to build the world’s largest travel marketplace by owning and powering the world’s best travel brands”.
The scale with which it does things is staggering – $750mil investment in technology; $3.2b in marketing; and 150 AB tests a month, two thirds of which fail.
Expedia is of course not alone in this quest to become a giant in travel. Just this morning came the news that Accor has agreed to buy the luxury Fairmont, Raffles and Swissotel brands for about US$2.9 billion in shares and cash.
Accor’s news coming on top of Marriott buying Starwood shows that travel is firmly on the road to consolidation, and from what I’ve heard so far this morning, the story for 2016 will continue to be one of scale and oh yes, speed.
The question is, as you get bigger, do you get slower as well?
