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Expedia 3Q net up 19% as hotel revenue offsets drop in airline

October 31, 2011 | Online Travel

Expedia said gross bookings rose 11% in the latest period, while transactions were up 9.4%. Worldwide hotel revenue rose 18%, with nights stayed up 16%. However, air revenue again decreased, this time 5%, as 10% fewer tickets were sold but at 6% higher prices on average.

Expedia's revenue has climbed as travel demand recovered after the recession.

Expedia posted a profit of $209.5 million, or 75 cents a share, from $176.6 million, or 62 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding such items as stock-based compensation and revenue hedging, earnings rose to 77 cents a share from 68 cents. Revenue increased 15% to $1.14 billion.

Expedia sold 15,000 travel deals in the first three days of launching a partnership with Groupon. But three months later, the Bellevue, Wash.-based online travel agency is questioning the long-term value of those bargain shoppers.

In Expedia’s conference call yesterday discussing its third quarter results, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi admitted sales from the Groupon Getaways partnership were impressive, but questioned the incremental value to the business and whether they were returning to Expedia to book other trips.



Get the full story at The Wall Street Journal (free content)

Read also "Expedia Questions the Lifetime Value of the Groupon Customer" at The Wall Street Journal (free content), and "Expedia's CEO Discusses Q3 2011 Results - Earnings Call Transcript" at Seeking Alpha,, and "Expedia sees hotel improvements, but still admires Booking.com from afar" at Tnooz

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