Ever wondered how to boost your Vrbo bookings? This week, Sam chats with Travis Gibbon, a savvy Vrbo host in the Hilton Head market, who shares insider tips on maximizing your listing’s potential ahead of peak booking season. Travis dives into flexible cancelation policies, adjusting minimum night stays, and setting competitive rates. He also explains how to use tools like Escapia for dynamic pricing to ensure you are booked and busy in the new year. Whether you're a seasoned Vrbo host or just s...
Dec 06, 2024•19 min•Season 4Ep. 11
Expedia’s annual Unpack™ outlook is here, using data-driven insights to uncover upcoming travel trends for 2025. Samantha Lopez is joined by Amanda Maltos, an industry leader and communications expert from Expedia Group, to dive into the data gathered from more than 25,000 travelers in this year's Unpack™ Report. Some key findings include travelers adding Detour Destinations to their trips, Set-Jetting and the continued influence of media on travelers, the pull of mother nature when planning tri...
Nov 13, 2024•17 min•Season 4Ep. 10
With entrepreneurship on the rise, vacation rental hosts and savvy travel advisors are seizing opportunities to grow and make a positive impact in the industry. In this episode, Vrbo host Michelle Ruber and travel advisor Rebecca Smiley, share their insights on growing their businesses with Expedia Group. Michelle talks about how Vrbo’s platform empowers hosts to provide personalized and trusted travel experiences. Rebecca details her journey into entrepreneurship, how she leverages social media...
Nov 13, 2024•28 min•Season 4Ep. 9
How can destinations reinvent themselves to attract travelers year-round? In this episode, Samantha Lopez is joined by two key figures in French tourism, Sophie Mandrillon from Atout France and Loic Chovelon from Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, to explore how their organizations are reshaping tourism in the off season. They discuss their partnership with Expedia Group, they focus on sustainable tourism initiatives and the strategies they use to combat seasonality, particularly in the beautiful Côte ...
Nov 08, 2024•22 min•Season 4Ep. 8
The cost of travel is on the rise, and so are our customers' expectations. So how can travel providers keep up? Expedia Group's head of B2B Lodging Marketing, Brandon Ehrhardt, joins the podcast to share insights from our latest research on traveler behavior. Compared to travelers booking on other platforms, Expedia Group travelers are shown to spend 21% more on properties and stay 11% longer than other guests, creating significant revenue opportunities for hotels. We discuss how initiatives lik...
Oct 23, 2024•18 min•Season 4Ep. 7
As fraud becomes more sophisticated, it’s crucial for travel businesses to stay one step ahead. In this episode of Powering Travel, Samantha Lopez is joined by Amit Ghosh, Head of Fraud and Risk Portfolio at Expedia Group, to discuss increasing threats in the travel industry. Amit shares his insights on the growing challenges posed by AI advancements and phishing attacks, emphasizing the importance of staying vigilant throughout the customer journey. He also highlights how Expedia's innovative f...
Sep 27, 2024•15 min•Season 4Ep. 6
As vacation rentals rise in popularity, it's more important than ever to ensure your listing stands out. Angela Page, Director of Account Management for Vacation Rentals at Expedia Group and a Vrbo host herself, shares her tips for optimizing your property listing to attract the right guests and provide a great experience. Some of her advice includes how the right settings can help you avoid costly cancellations, how to keep your listing’s rules and amenities up to date, why the order of photos ...
Sep 18, 2024•30 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Everyone deserves to feel safe and welcome while traveling. However, Expedia Group’s latest research reveals that Black, Latino, LGBTQIA+ travelers, and those with disabilities still face significant barriers that hinder their travel experiences. Lawrence Phillips, CEO of Green Book Global, shares how his platform empowers Black travelers with authentic reviews and resources, helping them navigate the world with confidence. Joining the conversation, Heather Ansley, Chief Policy Officer at Paraly...
Sep 04, 2024•19 min•Season 4Ep. 4
When opening a new property, securing those initial bookings can be challenging, especially when competing against established properties. Susana Ramírez Horta, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Tafer Hotels & Resorts, shares how she leverages Expedia Group's tools to increase visibility for both new and established properties. Susana explains that as Tafer prepares to open a new property, they use Expedia Group's pay-per-stay Accelerator tool to ensure it appears at the top of searc...
Jul 24, 2024•9 min•Season 4Ep. 3
In today’s market, travelers have seemingly endless options for where to stay. How can businesses boost their visibility to ensure that travelers are making bookings with them? We hear from Carlos del Pino at Original Group who has tapped into Expedia’s extensive B2B partner network and launched a pay-per-stay Accelerator, to boost visibility, making it easier to fill rooms–especially during off-season. Original Group is a Mexican based hospitality group that is a pioneer in Cancun, building the...
Jul 24, 2024•9 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Data and cookies have long been used in advertising to understand, target, retarget, track, and report on the purchasing journeys of consumers. Now that third-party cookies are being phased out, travel marketers and advertisers need to rely on first-party data to build strategic campaigns that effectively connect with travelers. In this episode, we take a closer look at first-party data this new era of digital advertising and tap our expert, Jason Standifer, senior director of product management...
Jul 09, 2024•17 min•Season 4Ep. 1
Powering Travel is changing to best serve you! On this feed, you’ll find exclusive stand-alone content that offers insights into the ever-evolving travel industry. We’ll be breaking down complex topics and providing insights and inspiration to help you grow your business. You’ll be hearing about a range of topics from expert voices across the industry, spotlights on partners, and educational pieces on what’s powering the travel industry. Make sure you’ve subscribed wherever you get your podcasts...
Jun 26, 2024•1 min0
Guest Host Becca Glenn, Director of Partner Success for Vacation Rentals is joined by Mary Beth Miles, CEO of Vacation Rental Collective. Becca and Mary Beth sit down to talk all things vacation rentals, and how to create unforgettable experiences for guests. In a post-pandemic world, guest expectations of vacation rentals have shifted. Today, travelers are looking for hotel-level amenities and personalized experiences, and according to Mary Beth, providing delight and surprise elevates it to a ...
Mar 27, 2024•28 min•Season 3Ep. 6
Guest host Mike Grubler, Senior Director of Strategic Partnerships at Expedia Group, is joined by Kerry Mack for this episode on revenue management in hospitality. Kerry is an expert in the space, and is currently the Chief Revenue Officer at Highgate, where she has worked for over eighteen years. Mike and Kerry discuss why revenue management in the travel industry continues to be a unique and complicated topic. This complication makes efficient and sophisticated revenue management in travel vit...
Mar 13, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 5
Wondering how new technology like AI will impact travel? In this episode, guest host Richard Kocher, Senior Director of Media Insights and Planning at Expedia Group, is joined by travel journalist Siew Hoon Yeoh to discuss the role of technology in travel. Siew Hoon is the founder of Web in Travel , and has been covering the impact of tech on the travel industry since the early 2000s. She believes that travel is still a human industry —after all, it's humans who travel, not robots. However, she ...
Feb 28, 2024•34 min•Season 3Ep. 4
Brandon is back to host this episode of Powering Travel! Join him and Ariane Gorin, President of Expedia for Business at Expedia Group, for a great discussion on the state of the travel industry, how Expedia is enabling their partners to capture the demand of the growing middle class, and the importance of accessing this new segment of travelers. Ariane, a seasoned leader in the travel space, shares valuable insights on how Expedia is facilitating its partners to tap into the expanding middle cl...
Feb 14, 2024•18 min•Season 3Ep. 3
What is the lodging industry doing to achieve decarbonization and net zero? Aditi Mohapatra, VP Global Social Impact & Sustainability, sits down with Xavier Guillemin, VP Global Sales Sustainability at Accor, Europe's largest hospitality company, to find out! Xavier gives his insights on the lodging industry's pursuit of decarbonization and net-zero goals, emphasizing the mounting pressure from travelers for sustainable lodging and the importance of meeting COP 21 commitments. Xavier also sh...
Jan 31, 2024•28 min•Season 3Ep. 2
Is there a typical path to purchase when it comes to booking travel? Join guest host Richard Kocher, Senior Director, Media Insights & Planning, as he interviews Cheryl Miller, Senior Vice President of B2B Marketing at Expedia Group. Cheryl has extensive experience in marketing and go-to-market initiatives for large tech companies, and together, they discuss the findings of Expedia’s Path to Purchase Report, an in-depth study that explores how travelers make decisions when planning their nex...
Jan 17, 2024•33 min•Season 3Ep. 1
Join Brandon and an expert roster of guest hosts as they uncover what recent breakthroughs in technology mean for travel. From Gen AI to innovative new security features, the travel space is rapidly evolving – and we have a front row seat. Tune in this season to uncover how these innovations can help you and your business grow in 2024! Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill. Learn more at partner.expediagroup.com ....
Dec 13, 2023•52 sec0
What happens when as an eight-year-old, you are moved from Okinawa to Indiana, two more contrasting places you couldn’t imagine? Well, for half-Japanese-half-American Michael Dykes, it was definitely “jarring”, but it taught him some valuable life lessons which have stood him in good stead in both his career and life. The Vice President, Market Management of Asia-Pacific for Expedia Group said growing up on a farm in rural America taught him self-sufficiency as well as an appreciation for the or...
Dec 11, 2023•46 min•Ep. 5
Like many key figures in travel and hospitality, Rob Torres, Senior Vice President of Media Solutions at Expedia Group has seen the industry shift and evolve over time, with technology driving most of the change in the last couple of decades. In this episode of Expedia Talks, we ask Rob about the lessons he has collected and curated over the years to help him prepare for the future of travel. With so much new technology at one's disposal, how does an experienced travel pro like Rob pick and choo...
Dec 04, 2023•19 min•Ep. 4
In this episode of Expedia Talks, we ask Karen about what drew her to the intersection of travel and technology. We also chat about her first startup and how Expedia acquired it all those years ago. Then, Karen gets candid about the formative years that brought her to Expedia, before answering today's most pressing question - what's a human quality that cannot be codified? Stay tuned for more episodes in this series. New episode of Powering Travel coming in 2024.
Nov 27, 2023•35 min•Ep. 3
As a company, Expedia Group is no stranger to change - the company has been through many shifts in the travel and hospitality industry, from technological booms to slumps in the global economy, to the current AI revolution amidst a worldwide recovery phase. Similarly, two travel veterans, Greg Schulze, SVP of Strategic Travel Partners and Hari Nair, SVP and General Manager, Lodging Marketplace, are no strangers to transformations in the industry either. In this episode of Expedia Talks, we sit d...
Nov 20, 2023•41 min•Ep. 2
Expedia Group rolled out a few partnerships recently – SoFi, Mastercard, and WalmartPlusTravel.com. By enabling giant retailers like these, do they risk losing business on the B2C side of things? And what does it take to form lasting partnerships in today's travel and hospitality scene? On the first episode of Expedia Talks, a special series powered by Expedia Group, we chat with Alfonso Paredes (SVP, Commercial Partnerships, Expedia Group) about finding synergy in a competitive travel market, l...
Nov 13, 2023•11 min•Ep. 1
In the Season 2 finale of Powering Travel, Brandon interviews Katherine Fan. Katherine is a freelance writer and a loyalty expert who started her loyalty journey the way many people do, looking at how to make the most of her travel. Today she still loves loyalty programs, and teaches others how to take full advantage of them. Katherine and Brandon discuss One Key, Expedia’s largest and most comprehensive rewards program yet, the differences between cash and mileage-based programs, and some of th...
Jul 19, 2023•37 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Brandon and guest host Richard Kocher, the Director of Media Insights and Planning at Expedia Group, interview Powering Travel’s first returning guest: Dennis Schaal! Dennis the founding and executive editor of Skift and a long-time travel journalist. In this episode, they dive into the world of data and insights in the travel industry. Richard and Dennis provide a unique perspective on how data can be leveraged and provide their expert knowledge on the value of research. Join them for further d...
Jul 05, 2023•33 min•Season 2Ep. 5
Who ensures local communities are well serviced by tourism, or that the local environment is protected? How can a destination be promoted responsibly? The bottom line is that destinations need advocates. In this episode, Brandon is joined by Andrew van der Feltz, the Global Senior Director of Business Development for Expedia Group Media Solutions. They dive into destination advocacy with Andreas Weissenborn, Vice President of Research and Advocacy at Destinations International, to answer those q...
Jun 21, 2023•44 min•Season 2Ep. 4
This episode of Powering Travel marks a milestone: our first episode about the vacation rental marketplace! Vacation rentals have become an essential part of the travel and tourism industry, but elicit mixed feelings from travelers and professionals alike. Brandon is joined by guest host Tim Rosolio, Vice President of vacation rental partner success at Expedia Group. Tim is an expert in the business side of vacation rentals, as well as being a travel enthusiast and vacation rental owner himself....
Jun 07, 2023•30 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Have you ever seen a beautiful location in a movie or TV show and known you had to visit? The intersection between media and travel is a powerful motivator for tourism, and even has a catchy name: set-jetting. In this episode, Brandon is joined by guest host Angelique Miller, who leads the Media Studio at Expedia Group. They interview Dr. Stephen Pratt, a department chair of Tourism Events and Attractions at the Rosen College of Hospitality Management and co-creator of the popular Travel Profess...
May 24, 2023•38 min•Season 2Ep. 2
Travel is something that many of us love, but unfortunately, travelers with disabilities face barriers and challenges to travel that are often overlooked. In the first episode of season two, host Brandon Ehrhardt and guest host Toby Willis sit down with Alvaro Silberstein, founder of Wheel the World. After a car accident that left him in a wheelchair when he was 18 years old, Alvaro knew he wanted to continue traveling, but found obstacles in his way that able bodied people didn’t face. Based on...
May 10, 2023•34 min•Season 2Ep. 1
