Skift recently referenced a new mojo to be seen with Expedia in 2025 – and my industry radar was telling me the same. So, I decided to have a closer look especially on how Expedia is doing versus their “favourite” rival.
For years, we’ve all operated under the assumption that Booking.com owns Europe. And on the surface, that still is relatively true—they’ve got the traffic, the brand recognition, the whole package.
But when you look at what’s happened over the past 18 months, there’s a new evolving story.
For example, Expedia’s stock jumped 55% in 2025. Booking’s? Just over 10% to the mid teens.
That gap isn’t random. It’s the result of Expedia quietly rewiring how travel distribution actually works in Europe—not by winning the consumer traffic war (they haven’t), but by becoming the infrastructure that powers everyone else’s travel offering.
Ryanair flights now feed into Expedia’s packages. Revolut’s 65 million European customers can book hotels through Expedia’s tech. You can get British Airways loyalty points when booking on Expedia’s platform.
Meanwhile, Booking.com got designated as an EU « gatekeeper » under the Digital Markets Act. Expedia didn’t. That one regulatory decision has created a completely asymmetric playing field—one where Expedia can offer opaque pricing structures and partnership deals that Booking legally can’t match.
The B2B numbers tell the real story: Expedia’s wholesale bookings grew 26% year-over-year in Q3 2025. Not from tourists searching Google. From banks, airlines, and corporate travel programmes that need travel tech infrastructure – and not so much from the traditional B2B wholesaler market.
For the full analysis—the regulatory shifts, the partnership strategy, the margin dynamics, go to the link in the comments.
Are you seeing a visible shift play out in your markets?