Dive Brief:

• Expedia Group reported revenue of $2.7 billion in the first quarter of 2023, up 18% compared to the same period in 2022 and its “highest-ever” first quarter, according to the company’s recent earnings report. 
• The company also reported total gross bookings of $29.4 billion in the first quarter, an increase of 20% year over year. 
• Lodging bookings on the platform in Q1 generated $21.1 billion, a record figure that Expedia Group Vice Chairman and CEO Peter Kern attributed to strong consumer demand with acceleration in international and big-city travel.

Dive Insight:

“The reemergence of major international cities has meant increased hotel demand,” Kern said in an earnings call with analysts, adding that demand for vacation rentals is flattening as travelers increasingly head to urban destinations over extended beach and mountain trips. 

As more businesses return to hybrid work policies, the push toward urban as well as a reduction in length of stay has benefited the hotel sector, added Expedia Group Chief Financial Officer Julie Whalen in the earnings call. 

Pebblebrook Hotel Trust’s first-quarter earnings pointed to similar demand trends, with the company’s urban hotels leading its first-quarter portfolio growth. 

“We are pleased to see broad travel demand remain strong in what appears to be a more structural post pandemic environment of people prioritizing travel above most other categories of spend,” Kern said, a trend also noted in a recent McKinsey study that found travel spend is up 6% among U.S. consumers. 

“This has held up despite inflation and recession worries and even, more recently, bank system concerns,” Kern said. “While economists continue to debate potential recession outcomes and clearly many unknowns are still out there, consumers have so far shaken it off and continue to travel.” 

In the earnings call, Kern also commented on Expedia’s integration of ChatGPT and how technologies such as AI and machine learning have the potential to “enhance the customer experience” and “move towards our Northstar of true personalization.”

In April, the company introduced attribute-based shopping for its hotel partners and launched a “shoppable” streaming platform called GoUSA.