Expedia Group's performance has benefited from the holiday season despite
the omicron threat. The net profit for the fourth quarter of 2021 reached
US$ 276 million compared to the fourth quarter of 2020 which lost US$ 412
million, citing Bloomberg on Friday (11/2).
Expedia, which runs online travel, has more than doubled its revenue to
US$2.28 billion. Meanwhile, analysts project that the company's average
revenue will reach US$2.29 billion.
Expedia provides reservation services for traditional lodging such as
hotels. Also offers short term rentals through its platform Vrbo. Business
in the tourism sector has been hit by the ups and downs of the pandemic.
Having initially been hit by an almost complete halt to travel due to
Covid-19 emerging two years ago, Expedia managed to bounce back in the last
year as borders and businesses opened and travel increased, at least in some
markets.
Then, the omicron variant appeared late last year, once again shutting down
business and triggering massive disruption to flights and vacation plans.
For the week ending December 12, Expedia's US clean room nights booked were
down 18% from 2019, according to market researcher YipitData.
With the infection rate easing, analysts expect travel to rebound this
spring and summer. Those expectations have pushed Expedia's shares to record
highs.
Expedia's Chief Executive Officer Peter Kern wishes a continued travel
recovery if virus travel remains the same. "People, as far as they want to
go out and live their life and see things, they will," he said.
After the initial downturn in the early months of the pandemic, Expedia,
like its rival Airbnb Inc., is benefiting as people are taking advantage of
the policy of working from anywhere to explore elsewhere.
This is likely to continue this year, as short-term rental reservations
across online travel agencies for the first half of 2022 are significantly
higher than 2021, JMP Securities analyst Andrew Boone wrote in a note in
late January.
"It's lucky for us that we're in that business and we're definitely leaning
on the moment as much as we can, and I think we've really succeeded in
that," Kern said.
Expedia, based in Bellevue, Washington, said gross bookings, which represent
the total value of retail transactions, including taxes and fees, totaled
$17.5 billion in the fourth quarter, compared with estimates of $19.5
billion.
The company's shares were up about 5% in extended trading after closing at
$197.52 in New York. So far this year, Expedia's shares have risen 9.3%,
compared to the 9.6% gain of rival Booking Holdings Inc. and a 3.3% increase
in Airbnb shares.