Last Thursday Expedia Inc. announced their Q3 profits beating analyst projections. According to their release (PDF), the world’s biggest OTA’s hotel revenue propelled the unexpected winnings. Shares of Expedia too an appropriate jump, closing up more than 15 percent.
According to Expedia hotel revenue increased some 20 plus percent on gross bookings of some $9 billion plus. Interestingly, hotel bookings outgrew air bookings by more than 9%, yet another sign airline seat commissions continue get smaller versus hotel rooms. Overall Expedia lost their gains via hotels when air seats are factored in.
Meanwhile Travelzoo reported (PDF) their Q3 earnings down some 8% year on year last week, and a snapshot of Q3 for hotel brand Starwood shows that hotelier’s year on year revenue down 3.7% on 2012 earnings of $ 1.28 billion compared with $ 1.329 billion in 2011. Just how other hoteliers fared is the subject of a more in depth reporting, IHG for one will announce 06 November 2012 at 07.00am (GMT).
Until all the numbers are in it’s difficult to say who the big winners and losers are, but looking at 2012 data from Pegasus, overall GDS bookings being down 0.7 percent year on year may indicate Expedia revenue growth is at the expense of other players. At least this assumption seems logical, as the only market segment that seems to have room for growth is Asia.
Other key players have upcoming announcements, but it seems clear the top dog in online bookings has run away with the lion’s share of what profit there is in online bookings. Orbitz is scheduled to hold their Q3 earnings call November 7, 2012 at 10:00 a.m. EST (9:00 a.m. CST), Kayak will hold their Q3 call on Thursday, November 8, 2012, at 4:30p.m. Eastern Time, and Priceline will host theirs on November 1st.
On the face of it, it seems Expedia has outperformed competitors – even some hotels – by the sheer weight of visibility and their size. We may see an end of 2012 that shows big players as big winners, and lesser competitors dropping out or being big losers. As projections go, this is a bit of a no brainer. Travelzoo looking for a hotel booking site shows that at least some players know why they are behind the eight ball.
We will bring more news as the Q3 results come in in November.