Skift Take
Vrbo took a hit when Expedia reduced marketing during its tech migration. Now, the company is doing the work to bring it back.
Expedia Group transferred 1 million short-term rental listings from its Expedia brand to Vrbo, adding more variety to the vacation rental business and a stronger focus on urban stays.
Ariane Gorin, president and CEO of Expedia Group, said the move was part of an effort to expand Vrbo’s inventory and rebuild the brand. Vrbo and Hotels.com took a hit as Expedia Group pulled back marketing during its recently completed tech migration to the cloud.
Gorin said that Vrbo historically has been known for beach and mountain vacation homes. The new stock of urban inventory lets Vrbo tap a new set of customers.
“We think there’s still opportunities for us to grow there, and we’ll also be looking at where else we can grow,” Gorin said on Thursday during a call with investors to discuss third-quarter results.
Executives declined to share specifics on Vrbo’s financial performance, but Gorin said Vrbo is “returning to growth.”
Other Vrbo Features and Growth Plans
Besides the increased inventory, Vrbo added features like discounts for long stays and more flexible cancellation policies. And the app is getting new features to streamline shopping and make it faster.
The company ran a television ad this year featuring legendary University of Alabama football coach and current ESPN analyst Nick Saban as a nightmare vacation rental host.
“As we think about Vrbo going forward, we need to continue that formula of continuing to improve the product, continuing to expand the supply, and having great marketing,” Gorin said.
Gorin said she believes that Vrbo is underpenetrated in its current markets, so there’s a new general manager of the brand to set longer-term growth plans.
She added: “All the work that we’re doing to sell vacation rentals well on Vrbo will also help us sell vacation rentals on Expedia. We’ve had so much going on in the last few years as a company that we haven’t made a big concerted effort to sell vacation rentals well on brand Expedia.”
Expedia Group sold 97.4 million room nights in the third quarter of 2024, up 9% from the previous year and more than what the company had expected. Total gross bookings were valued at $27.5 billion, up 7%.
Based on that growth, executives said they now expect gross bookings for 2024 to increase 5% from 2023, one point higher than it had previously calculated. And they expect EBITDA and EBIT margins to be slightly up versus last year, though they had originally expected no improvement.
Expedia Group also said Thursday that its chief financial officer, Julie Whalen, is stepping down from the role. A successor is expected by February 17, 2025.