Powering Travel

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 next trip. Cheryl highlights that the path to purchase is winding, long, and never straightforward. She also emphasizes the importance of employing an omnichannel marketing approach, as the report uncovered the variety of channels travelers explore when booking travel, such as social media and OTAs. She and Richard also discuss some of the many other important insights from the report, like the influence of advertising, the role of loyalty, and how to engage travelers at each step along the journey. This episode offers a compelling glimpse into the intersection of technology, consumer behavior, and marketing strategies. 

The Path to Purchase Report

Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill. Learn more at partner.expediagroup.com.

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.

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 origin of food. It also made him determined to return to Japan, and Asia, where his heart is and so he made sure he never lost his Japanese language skills while building a new life in the US.

In this podcast, Dykes talks about how countries in South-east Asia are more interwoven with each other – a lot of cultural awareness across boundaries, not seen so much in North-east Asia, which then leads to e-commerce in general, including travel, cutting across boundaries as well.

Dykes also talks about Expedia's partnerships with Jetstar and Philippine Airlines, and a deal now with general e-commerce players such as G-Mart of South Korea. The company is also expanding the definition of B2B, and he sees opportunities within Asia-Pacific, both vertically and geographically, for Expedia to “power travel for everybody”.

New episodes of Powering Travel coming in 2024.

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 choose what works best for the task at hand? We also chat about new trends in Rob's specialty, Destination Marketing, and how data is helping companies like Expedia create more personalized experiences for each customer, which in turn adds value to Expedia's partners and suppliers.

Stay tuned for more episodes in this series. New episodes of Powering Travel coming in 2024.

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.

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 down with Greg and Hari to talk about their roles at Expedia and how it has evolved over time, especially with data, AI, and machine learning. We also go back to the early days of Online Travel Agencies and how it changed the way we travel, and why travel professionals need to always be one step ahead of the curve with trends in the market.

Greg and Hari also talk about the collective responsibility of travel players, and why it's time to rise to the occasion to meet the challenges and opportunities during this technological turning point.

Stay tuned for more episodes in this series. New episode of Powering Travel coming in 2024.

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, looking for common goals among collaborators, and how tech is helping build bridges instead of walls in the new tourism and hospitality scene.

Stay tuned for more episodes in this series. New episodes of Powering Travel coming in 2024.

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 the crazy things they’ve both done in pursuit of points. Katherine also discusses her love of Hotels.com, her strategy for redeeming points, and the future of loyalty programs.

Learn more about One Key

Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill.

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 discussion on mining first-party data, the use of third parties, and Dennis’ hot takes on AI and upcoming trends in the industry. This is a conversation you don’t want to miss. 

Read more about the Path to Purchase research here.

Download the Traveler Insights Report for Q2 of 2023 

Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill.

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 questions. Andreas discusses the crucial role destination advocacy groups play in the travel and tourism industry and the shift they’ve undergone from being organizations focused solely on promotion and marketing. He also breaks down the wide variety of types of destination advocacy groups, and why each is an important part of the travel ecosystem. 

Powering Travel is produced by Expedia Group in association with Quill.