Booking Vs. Expedia: A 50 Chart Factbook

Report Overview

Booking Holdings and Expedia Group are the two largest OTAs globally, collectively holding ~42% market share of global OTA gross bookings today. Both companies are predominantly in the business of selling lodging to consumers (hotel rooms, vacation rentals, and other alternative accommodations) through their eponymous brands, Booking.com and Expedia.com, respectively. A smaller share of their businesses comes from other travel verticals such as flights, experiences & activities, car rentals and restaurants. Geographically, Booking Holdings gets the majority of its business from Europe, whilst Expedia is more focused in the U.S.

As we wrote in our report The Past, Present, and Future of Online Travel, though the period spanning the Great Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008/09 till 2019 defined a golden decade for market share gains for Booking and Expedia, the next decade will likely see slower growth, stiffer competition and increased pressure on profit margins. Booking and Expedia are increasingly investing in new types of innovation, such as Booking expanding its flights business in the U.S. as part of its connected trip vision and investing in merchandising efforts (i.e., discounting and couponing) and Expedia building out its B2B business and investing in a new centralized tech and loyalty system.

Despite Booking’s focus in Europe, both companies are publicly listed in the U.S. Both saw huge share price growth from the troughs of lockdown in 2020 till early 2022. Since then, though Booking has seen significant share price gains in the last 2 years (and today trading ~+95% vs. the same date in 2019*), Expedia has relatively struggled and is today trading -5% below 2019 levels*. In terms of valuation multiples, on a 1-year forward EV/EBITDA basis, Booking has doubled its premium to Expedia today* vs pre-Covid levels.

In this report, we provide a concise 50-chart factbook comparing the key financial metrics and performance indicators of the two companies, such as segment mix by geography, global market share, EBITDA margins, take rates, marketing expenses, and valuation.

Note: Share Price and EV/EBITDA valuation multiple information as of 30 July 2024

What You'll Learn From This Report

• Company Overview: Brand overview, Timelines by company, Mix by geography, Supply mix, Global market share

• Key Performance Indicators: Gross Bookings, Revenue, Take Rate, EBITDA & margins, Room nights & ADR growth, Operating Expenses

• Marketing: Marketing efficiency, Share and ranking of Google’s sponsored results by region

• Growth Outlook: 5-year forecast on revenue growth, EBITDA growth, EBITDA margin

• Share Price Performance & Valuation: Stock price vs Skift Travel-200 Index, Earnings per Share, EV/EBITDA Valuation, Free Cash Flow