Expedia operates in a highly competitive online travel market, facing challenges from a diverse range of companies that offer similar or alternative services. These competitors can be broadly categorized into other Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), alternative accommodation platforms, metasearch engines, direct suppliers, and business travel management companies. The global online travel agency market is significant, valued at approximately $612.95 billion in 2024 and projected to grow. OTAs collectively hold an estimated 40% of the total global travel market.

Here are the key competitors of Expedia:

1. Other Major Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)

These companies directly compete with Expedia by offering comprehensive booking services for flights, hotels, car rentals, and vacation packages.

• Booking.com (Booking Holdings): Often cited as Expedia's largest competitor, Booking.com holds a dominant market share, particularly in Europe, where it had 69.3% of the European hotel OTA market share in 2024, compared to Expedia Group's 11.5%. It's known for its extensive hotel inventory and user-friendly platform.
• Priceline (Booking Holdings): A subsidiary of Booking Holdings, Priceline caters to price-sensitive consumers, offering deals on hotels, flights, and car rentals, often through opaque pricing models.
• Trip.com Group: This Singapore-headquartered company is a major player, especially in the Asian market, offering a wide range of travel services including hotel bookings, transport, and corporate travel management.
• Agoda (Booking Holdings): Another Booking Holdings brand, Agoda is particularly strong in Asia and offers over two million properties, including hotels, in 200 countries.
• Expedia Group's Own Brands: While part of the same parent company, these brands often compete for direct bookings:
  • Hotels.com: Focuses primarily on hotel bookings and offers a loyalty program.
  • Travelocity: Provides a wide array of travel services including hotels, flights, and packages, operating as a distinct brand under Expedia Group.
  • Orbitz: Another Expedia Group subsidiary offering flights, hotels, cars, and packages.

2. Alternative Accommodation Platforms

These platforms specialize in unique lodging options, directly competing with Expedia's hotel and vacation rental offerings.

• Airbnb: A significant competitor, Airbnb specializes in short-term rentals, offering a vast marketplace of unique accommodations from private rooms to entire homes, with six million listings globally. It has also expanded into experiences.
• Vrbo (Expedia Group): An Expedia subsidiary, Vrbo (Vacation Rentals by Owner) focuses exclusively on vacation rentals, often for entire homes, making it a direct competitor to Airbnb.
• HomeToGo: A Germany-based vacation rental metasearch engine.

3. Metasearch Engines

These platforms aggregate travel deals from various OTAs, airlines, and hotels, allowing users to compare prices before directing them to the booking site.

• TripAdvisor: Known for its user-generated reviews and ratings, TripAdvisor also functions as a booking platform and metasearch engine for hotels, flights, and attractions.
• Kayak (Booking Holdings): A popular metasearch engine for flights, hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages.
• Trivago (Expedia Group majority-owned): Primarily a hotel metasearch engine that aggregates prices from numerous booking sites.
• Skyscanner: A global travel search engine for flights, hotels, and car hire.
• Google Travel: Google's integrated travel planning tools, including Google Flights and Google Hotels, allow users to search and compare options directly within Google's ecosystem, posing a significant challenge to OTAs.

4. Direct Suppliers

Airlines and hotel chains actively encourage direct bookings through their own websites and loyalty programs to avoid OTA commissions.

• Hotel Chains: Marriott International, Hilton Worldwide, and Hyatt Hotels are major examples. Their extensive loyalty programs incentivize travelers to book directly for perks and points.
• Airlines: Major airlines like American Airlines, Delta, United, and others offer booking directly on their websites, often providing exclusive deals or better flexibility compared to third-party sites.

5. Business Travel Management Companies

For corporate travel, specialized agencies compete with Expedia's business travel solutions.

• American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT): A leading B2B travel platform providing software and services for managing business travel, expenses, and events.
• CWT (formerly Carlson Wagonlit Travel): Another major player in the business-to-business-for-employees (B2B4E) travel management sector.
• HRS Group: Provides comprehensive business travel solutions.
• Travel Leaders Corporate: A business travel company owned by Internova Travel Group.
• ATPI Limited: Handles corporate travel and sports events, with a growing global network.

6. Regional and Niche Players

The market also includes numerous regional players and niche services catering to specific markets or travel segments.

• Hurb: South America's popular travel metasearch engine.
• Traveloka: A leading travel platform in Southeast Asia.
• MakeMyTrip: A prominent online travel company in India.
• Alternative Airlines: A niche platform specializing exclusively in flights, offering a wide range of airlines and payment options.