Expedia Is Booking More Hotel Nights and Fewer Flights

Expedia Group reported third-quarter results on November 4 and raised its full-year forecast, though it also guided to slower growth in the final three months of the year. Gross bookings were $34.01 billion, up 11 percent, and revenue was $4.94 billion, up 12 percent. Net income came to $1.03 billion, up 7 percent. The group includes the Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo brands.

The mix is the interesting part. Booked room nights rose 7 percent to 115.7 million, while booked air tickets fell 6 percent to 13.6 million from 14.4 million. Business-to-business gross bookings, which come from partners such as travel agencies and banks, grew 19 percent to $11.15 billion, while consumer bookings rose 7 percent to $22.86 billion. Partners are driving most of the growth.

Expedia raised its 2026 gross bookings guidance to a range of $131.4 billion to $131.9 billion from $129.5 billion to $130.8 billion, and lifted revenue guidance to $16.37 billion to $16.43 billion. For the fourth quarter it expects gross bookings of $27.9 billion to $28.4 billion and revenue of $3.69 billion to $3.75 billion.

On capital returns, the company repurchased about 2 million shares for $576 million in the quarter and declared a quarterly dividend of 48 cents per share, payable December 10 to holders of record on November 18. Free cash flow for the quarter was negative $1.40 billion. For travelers, the air ticket decline is consistent with higher fares reported by airlines this week.

Sources: Expedia Group (SEC filing), Travel PR News