Google's a Problem For Everyone Who Sells Something Online, Says Expedia Group CEO

Expedia Group's new CEO isn't mincing words about one of the company's biggest challenges: Google's dual role as a rival in online travel, and a key source of customers through search traffic and paid advertising. From a report: "I think Google's a problem -- it's a problem for everyone who sells something online, and we all have to struggle with that," Peter Kern said during an appearance on CNBC on Friday morning, following his first earnings report as the CEO of the Seattle-based online travel giant. His comments come amid reports that U.S. antitrust regulators are preparing a case against the search giant, focusing on its dominance of digital ads. This Google conundrum is a recurring topic for Expedia Group, but Kern appears to be taking a different approach than his predecessor Mark Okerstrom did before he was ousted from the role last fall. Appearing on CNBC this morning, Kern says Expedia needs to learn to rely less on performance marketing, a form of advertising in which the cost is based on a specific outcome such as a click or sales lead.

Maybe Expedia should not be garbage

[AvitarX]

I can find a flight that is cheap and acceptable in about 1/3 the time (or less) on google vs Expedia.

They make it very easy to see which days are cheaper around my travel time, and add helpful information like nearby airports that are less, and warnings for propeller planes.

Expedia was slow, and spent more time trying to selling me on hotels than letting me plan a cheap flight for my vacation.

The same goes for hotel searching, Google Maps just does it better.

Also, with Google I buy directly from the company I'm flying/staying with, and therefore have better cancellation policies and what not.

Expedia needs to either actually cost less (if they do, they make it too hard to find the less expensive options) or at the very least not sell an inferior product (hotel bookings with punitive cancellation policies).

Re: Maybe Expedia should not be garbage

[Way Smarter Than You]

Wow, where are you flying where propeller plane is even an option??

Re:

[douglasfir77]

Lots of small regional feeder airports to the larger international airports use prop planes. For instance the feeder airport in Beaumont Texas has United Express prop planes that regularly fly (well did) to the United hub at Bush Intercontinental airport in NE Houston.

Re:

[ShanghaiBill]

Plenty of small airports are served by prop planes.

You can fly point-to-point from one small town to another.

Often there are no security checks, and parking is 50 meters from the plane.

Re: Maybe Expedia should not be garbage

[Way Smarter Than You]

Ah, that makes sense, thanks. I have been on them but only in BFE. No place Expedia would serve.

Re: Maybe Expedia should not be garbage

[AvitarX]

Chicago to grand rapids once. And Newark, NJ to the small airport in Toronto a few times (that one wasn't a normal flight but got added every Canada long weekend).

They were turbo props, not straight up prop planes.

Re:

[SuperKendall]

The same goes for hotel searching, Google Maps just does it better.

Also, with Google I buy directly from the company I'm flying/staying with,

The other benefit of using either Google Maps or Apple Maps for hotel/motel searches in an area, is that you can find smaller non-chain hotels that aren't even going to be on a site like Expdia, either because they don't want to pay the fees or bother with integration overhead!

Sure some of those places will not be as nice as a giant chain. But some of them will actual

Re:

[Luthair]

Unfortunately laws were passed which enable suppliers (in this case the airline) to dictate pricing thus preventing retail competition. This is why stores have identical pricing on many goods (or require you to add the product to the cart to see the pricing).

Re:

[rtb61]

I see you do not understand how monopolies work. What was Youtube like when they were competing, what the fuck are they like now, censoring and manipulating. How has Google manipulated search not just for marketing purposes and profit but also to pervert the course of politics to get corrupt politicians that support them elected. Google doctored search for it's own customers, paid them for search results, and get number 1 in paid for search clicks but disappear off the first page, to ensure people to not cl

Re:

[robo1]

Expedia and the other OTAs (Online Travel Agents) all want rate parity so generally aren't going to see it cheaper somewhere else. This is why if you go on Trivago (owned by Expedia) and almost all the prices are the same. You are much better off using Google or something else for your research and then booking with the hotel directly. The hotel's website might have it cheaper because they aren't getting hit with a 15-20% commission. I used to work in the hotel industry and hoteliers generally hate Expe

Re:

[radarskiy]

"Expedia needs to either actually cost less "

What Expedia offers is a frequent traveler program that works across and outside of hotel chains. I don't book with one chain enough to really benefit from any chains programs, and often I'm booking with non-chain hotels. Expedia's program allows me to aggregate earning across all stays.

Not sure

[nospam007]

This afternoon I checked for a specific wine on Amazon, no luck.
Then I checked Google to see if perhaps somebody else would have it, and lo and behold I found one, on a web-shop called AMAZON.

I know Google search sucks but Amazon's sucks more.

Re:

[mccalli]

Amazon is turning into pinterest. It spams search results, and when you go there it says "We don't know when or if this product will become available" and tries to sell you something else.
It had a product page for my 12 year-old LCD TV.

Re:

[drinkypoo]

Amazon lets people sell used stuff. Someone probably sold one used there. It also lets you review old stuff, once it's in their database. All of that is useful. Where it goes off the rails is that you can fail to find stuff Amazon actually carries because of all of the crap results of stuff they don't.

Antitrust Charges Couldn't Come at a Better Time

[schwit1]

https://www.newsweek.com/antit... [newsweek.com]

What's becoming crystal clear to our citizens and representatives alike is that these conglomerates are primarily growing thanks to unfair, predatory behavior—and not superior execution.

Not if they are good at SEO

[drinkypoo]

Create a product page people will link to, and Google will beat a path to your website. Put some informative content and links there and Google will show it. Be prepared to justify your prices to potential customers.

Quite the hypocrisy

[surfdaddy]

...from the Company whose parent controls most of the independent hotel bookings around the world, and is a near monopoly.

how funny.

[WindBourne]

Expedia and other on-line companies destroyed the travel industry. Now, they are griping that Google is moving into their arena.
The hypocrisy is amazing.

Re:

[RhettLivingston]

As the internet evolved through the 90s, I expected it to enable the elimination of the middle man creating a massive jump in productivity by getting rid of the huge cuts taken in the middle for little to no value-added. It does require a search engine to do that. I don't think it requires specialty aggregators. They are a leftover from a time before search engines were less capable. Every middleman eliminated is a good thing for those who should get the most - the producers.

Re:

[Canberra1]

Google will also use AI to scew customers if it thinks it can. Personally no websites do this: Purchase the same deal at the same price I have previously paid - because I know the lowest price. Google has price alerts, but none have the 'customer is a tightass' built into that offer. But in anycase, Google by market share is a monopoly in the eyes of people with skin in the game The absense of effective competition over 15-25 years is a fair observation..

Re:

[WindBourne]

However, Google's monopoly in search is only because nobody has done a better job. Plain and simple to beat monopolies, you have to be better. MSIE was a disaster as a browser and yet, they owned the industry until chrome was finally able to produce a superior browser.

The problem with Google is they have Ads and Search tied together. Again, their ad engine is the best going. Problem is, that all the rest are so greedy, they focus on selling our data, while google sells access. Now, add int he fact that

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion