Online travel giants Expedia Group, Booking Holdings, Airbnb, and Trip.com Group collectively spent a record $14 billion on marketing last year, exceeding the amount the four companies spent in 2019 by about $500 million. The bulk of that spending came from Expedia Group and Booking Holdings, with the two companies disbursing $6.1 billion and $6 billion, respectively, in 2022. In a call with analysts to discuss the full-year results, Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern discussed the company’s strategy to drive more loyalty and direct business and how that will create more marketing efficiency in the long run. “We will be investing somewhat more in the loyalty program, but we expect, as we've talked about many times, we think about our investment in acquiring and retaining customers as everything from loyalty to discounting to direct marketing spend and performance brand, et cetera. And we expect to balance those things,” Kern said.
PhocusWire (03/27/23) Mitra Sorrells