Tag: Expedia

Book with confidence at Wotif? No, it’s just ‘Puffery’ says Expedia

Lawyers are supposed to protect the reputations of their clients, not trash them. But it looks like someone forget to tell the highly-paid legal eagles representing Expedia in Australia, who’ve inadvertently done a hatchet job on the credibility of once-iconic Australian subsidiary Wotif.com. They did this by arguing that Wotif should not have to refund the […]

Most leading Australian accommodation websites are US owned

Most of Australia’s best-selling accommodation websites are owned by US corporations, according to research from SiteMinder.  Online channel analyst Duncan Waterman said: “The rapid rise of international sites like Expedia, Booking.com and Agoda in the Australian market really stood out. Some of the local online players unfortunately haven’t capitalised effectively on their early entrance into the market.”  The top 10 […]

Georg Ruebensal, Managing Director, Expedia

As Managing Director Expedia ANZ, Georg Ruebensal has overall responsibility for Expedia’s businesses in Australia & New Zealand, with full P&L ownership and strategic direction. Part of the original launch team for Expedia.com.au in 2005, Georg moved into an regional APAC role in 2006, setting up the Expedia Inc. operations (for all three brands) for […]

Expedia, Agoda say ‘sacred cows’ of rate parity and last room availability killed by COVID

The adversarial relationship between hoteliers and the OTAs has changed to an “all hands on deck mentality” during COVID with operators no longer insisting on rate parity and last room availability – once major sticking points – as they scramble to put heads on beds, according to Expedia and Agoda. Speaking at the Web in Travel […]

One trick ponies – just 15% of global short term rentals use more than one OTA channel

Check out this Venn diagram from Transparent, which dramatically illustrates how one dimensional the distribution strategies are of most short term rental property managers – just 15% are using a multi-channel strategy – and of course the market dominance of Airbnb. Transparent explains: “In addition to booking power, Airbnb controls the lion’s share of inventory and […]

Wotif commissions to rise by 25% as Expedia rolls out new contract to hoteliers

Expedia is attempting to move all Wotif.com contracted properties onto a single company-wide contract and is raising site commission for larger producers from 12% to 15% – an increase of 25% – four months after buying the Australian OTA. “We are in discussions with them at the moment and there are a number of matters […]