Expedia's B2B Strategy: How Technology Drives Global Travel Partnerships

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Travel tech is evolving at lightning speed - reshaping how the world moves, books, and experiences journeys. In this episode, we sit down with Karen Bolda, Chief Product and Technology Officer for Private Label Solutions, Expedia Group’s B2B division, to explore the cutting-edge innovations driving the future of global travel from behind the scenes.

Karen takes us behind the scenes of Expedia Group's massive B2B operation – a side of the business many travelers never see but that powers over 70,000 businesses and 160,000 travel advisors worldwide. From her unique journey starting as a software developer to leading technology strategy for one of travel's biggest players, Karen offers rare insights into how Expedia is integrating AI throughout its ecosystem.

The conversation shatters common misconceptions about technology's role in travel. Rather than replacing travel advisors, Expedia Group's AI-powered tools are freeing them from operational tasks to focus on what computers can't replicate: human connection and expertise. Through specific examples like their quotation tools and virtual agents for travel advisors, Karen illustrates how technology enhances rather than diminishes the human element in travel planning.

We explore how Expedia Group's expanding product offerings – from hotel and flight bookings to vacation rentals through vrbo and increasingly into activities and experiences – reflect evolving traveler expectations for more comprehensive, seamless journeys. Perhaps most impressive is their AI-powered fraud prevention system, which stopped $4 billion in fraud in 2024 alone.

This episode offers a compelling look at the technological revolution transforming the way we explore the world. It highlights how innovative advancements are making travel more secure, seamless, and deeply personalized—ushering in a new era of smarter, more meaningful journeys. 

👉 Listen to Expedia's B2B Strategy: How Technology Drives Global Travel Partnerships Now

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
The future of technology.
Right now it's constantly beingrewritten, especially with AI.
The world of travel has evolved, I will say, even since I
entered this industry over twodecades ago.
It's going to keep doing that.
We need to make sure that we'redelivering the best technology

(00:29):
to help our B2B businessesdeliver great travel experiences
, and we will do that to thefull extent of like what
technology enables.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
Hello everyone and welcome back to Travel Trends.
This is your host, danChristian, and today we're going
to be having a conversationwith the Chief Product and
Technology Officer B2B atExpedia Group, karen Bolda.
I've been so looking forward tobringing this conversation to
all of our listeners, partlybecause we are the number one
B2B podcast globally, and Ifigured she is the ideal guest
for us to be able to talk aboutthe future of technology in the

(01:00):
B2B space, their partnerships,their technology roadmap, and I
so thoroughly enjoyed thisconversation that I'm really
looking forward to sharing thiswith you today.
I'm actually just on route toBarcelona for Focusrite Europe
and I'm looking forward tohaving the chance to meet Karen
in person at the event, as wellas many of our listeners and a
number of my colleagues.
I'm going to be recording livefrom the event, so if you're

(01:22):
there, be sure to reach out andwe'll be putting together a
special event spotlight episodeand, on that note, we actually
have a number of eventspotlights rolling out.
We just launched, this pastweekend, the highlights from the
Educational Travel ConsortiumConference held in Mobile
Alabama.
A little earlier this year, Idid a keynote on AI, which you
can find on our YouTube channelat Travel Trends Podcast, but I

(01:44):
really encourage you to checkout this episode because we have
a few hours of conversationsfrom the extraordinary group of
people that come together forthis really special event,
focusing on nonprofits andalumni travel programs.
Then we are going to bereleasing our Aviation Festival
highlights from Miami, followedby the highlights from the

(02:04):
adventure travel and tradeassociation conference in Denver
.
So be sure to be on the lookoutfor our event spotlight.
So make sure you're subscribedon the streaming platform of
your choice to be notified whennew episodes go live.
And I think all of ourlisteners know we do post clips
and highlights from all theseconversations, including the one
with Karen today and all of ouramazing guests from season five
.
So be sure to check those outon LinkedIn, youtube and

(02:27):
Instagram.
And next week we're going to bestarting our final deep dive
for season five, focused onin-destination experiences
brought to us by our friendsover at Pernod Ricard.
We are also deep into ourplanning for season six, which
launches in September.
If there are specific topics orguests you want us to feature,
please be sure to drop me anemail.
Dan at Travel Trends Podcast.

(02:48):
And we just announced our AISummit that's going to be in
October 28th and 29th 2025.
You can register for early birdtickets now on our website at
traveltrendspodcastcom.
We look forward to having manyof you join us for that special
event and we've just announcedthe speakers and our program
will be live shortly.
We'll be right back.

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Now back to the show.
Let's get into the main eventfor today, which is this
extraordinary conversation withKaren Bolda, the B2B Chief
Product and Technology Officerat Expedia Group.
As you'll hear, karen has suchan impressive background.
She started with a degree incomputer science, then she was a

(05:01):
software developer.
She moved her way up over thelast 15 years at Expedia,
holding a number of veryimportant positions and now
being the chief product andtechnology officer focused on
B2B.
So we thought she's the perfectperson to come on Travel Trends
to explain the future oftechnology from Expedia's
perspective, talk about theirroadmap and partnerships and all

(05:21):
the exciting initiatives theyhave on the go.
One other thing I did want tohighlight, too, is Expedia also
has a fantastic podcast calledPowering Travel.
They're in season four.
You have to check that out, andwe are certainly looking
forward to furthercollaborations with the team
over Expedia.
Now let's welcome Karen intothe conversation.
Karen, it's so fantastic tohave you on Travel Trends.
Thanks so much for joining us.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
Thank you.
Thank you, very great to behere.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
Tell everyone where you are for some more, because
most people in the industry aregoing to think Expedia, they're
going to think Seattle, but telleveryone where you're based.

Speaker 1 (05:51):
I am based in Missouri.
There is a very tiny travelstartup that started here many
years ago and that has continuedto grow and blossom and become
part of Expedia.

Speaker 2 (06:03):
And there's 2000 people in Missouri.

Speaker 1 (06:05):
No, not quite about half that, about half that.

Speaker 2 (06:07):
Amazing though, you got 1000 people in Missouri
office, and that's where you'vebeen for nearly 15 years, and
and so, yeah, tell us a littlebit about your role.
I guess let's dive into that,because you're, you know, the
senior vice president, likeyou're across all the product,
product and technology.
But, yeah, tell us a little bitabout your role at Expedia.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
Yeah, so I love technology.
I started my career as asoftware engineer and today I
lead product and technology forour B2B business at Expedia.
So what that means is I'mdefining our strategy for all of
our amazing travel tech andthat's used by our B2B partners.

(06:49):
That's what our B2B partnersare using to power all of these
amazing travel experiences fortheir travelers.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Very cool.
So that was travel now rightwhen you were a software
developer way long ago.
That was that little startupthat became part of the Expedia
ecosystem, so it's reallyinteresting that you started off
as a developer.
I know you've got your master'sin computer science.
You've got quite an impressivebackground in technology, and so

(07:16):
was this something that youclearly always wanted to get in
technology.
How did you decide to combineit with travel?
Do you have a particularpassion for travel?
How did those decide to combineit with travel?
Do you have a particularpassion for travel?
How did those two stars alignWell, don't?

Speaker 1 (07:30):
we all love travel?
I love travel and I definitelylove technology.
So I'm really, really fortunatethat I was able to combine the
two of these sort of early in mycareer.
You know, when I started mycareer, travel it was super,
super exciting.
Travel was just coming online.

(07:53):
The pace of innovation, whatyou could do with technology
like no more scouring travelbrochures and like searching
through pages in a phone bookyou could actually, you know
tools, you could use theinternet, you could explore, you
could book and you know, itreally helped open the world of

(08:14):
travel to everyone, everywhere.
And that's what I love.
That's kind of what got mestarted in this industry.
I love working in private labelsolutions.
That's our B2B business andthat's because, even today,
travel it's not just travel.

(08:35):
Tech isn't just booking flightsand hotels, it's, you know,
redefining what's possible.
It's just we keep trying tomake travel more and more
accessible for everyone.

Speaker 2 (08:47):
Well, what's interesting?
And there's a one bit ofcommonality between the two of
us?
Because my background wascomputer science and marketing
computer science and businessand when I started in travel, I
started in corporate travelbooking and it was interesting
because it was my first role intravel.
I knew I love travels.
Obviously, to your comment, whodoesn't love travel?
I mean I'm still amazed somepeople don't like that, don't
like leaving the house, that arejust like total homebodies.

(09:09):
But they exist out there andsome of them are developers as
well.
So it doesn't always but yeah,but one of the things that
really stood out for me as Istarted working on these
technology platforms likebuilding out a corporate travel
booking tool or building out aleisure booking website or a
cruise booking website I justloved the subject matter.
So I found it fascinating todevelop technology, to see how

(09:29):
customers were using it and thenhow it was fulfilling,
ultimately them having theseincredible travel experiences.
And I I always found it reallyinteresting the connection
between bringing people togetheronline and sending them out
into the world, which issomething I see Expedia does.
I mean, obviously you guys aresuch a great marketing machine
and have such an impressivetechnology stack that you are

(09:52):
bringing customers in andsending them out into the world,
but more and more of the travelexperience is becoming the
technology is extending to thetrip.
Right, you've got your app,you've got you know.
So, anyway, I've got lots ofquestions for this topic, but
but I guess, to be specific, Iwanted to talk about the B2B
side of Expedia, cause I thinkmost people think of Expedia as

(10:15):
being B2C.
They see the ads, they see thebillboards and they think of you
know the consumer direct, butthe the real picture is all of
the partners that you work withand all the content and the
product that you aggregate tomake that possible.
So I know one of the missionsfor Expedia is powering travel
for everyone everywhere, and Iguess I want to ask you
specifically how does the B2Btechnology play a role in

(10:38):
achieving that and specificallyyour role in Missouri?
How does that all come togetheron the backend?
Take us through the B2B techstory of Expedia, if you
wouldn't mind.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yes, I would love to.
I would love to.
Our mission, like you said,it's to power global travel for
everyone, everywhere, andprivate label solutions, our B2B
business.
We are doing that through ourmassive network, our massive
partner network, and so thatmeans we work with global

(11:10):
airlines, we work with majorfinancial institutions.
You talked about working inCorp Travel.
We work with many, many of themost loved Corp Travel companies
in the world and you know weare trusted by all of these
different businesses in theworld and you know we are
trusted by all of thesedifferent businesses.
So they are offering travel totheir card members, to all of

(11:30):
their clients, for, you know, asa part of their business, and
that's where our B2B technologyis powering over 70,000
businesses, over 160,000 traveladvisors.
And so what we can do, becausewe are part of Expedia Group, we
have this massive, massivetravel data set, we have cutting

(11:54):
edge AI capabilities and we canuse all of this to just really
make our B2B partners morepowerful.

Speaker 2 (12:02):
So yeah, Well.
I was going to say let'sexplore one specific example of
that, that is, personalization.
I mean it's a hot topic in everyindustry, but certainly, I
guess the part I would love foryou to also help clarify this is
personalization for B2Cobviously is important, but I'm
keen to know if there'spersonalization as well on the

(12:23):
B2B side.
But yeah, when, when we thinkabout how Expedia is using AI to
deliver more tailored shoppingexperiences for travelers
through the B2B platform, youknow how, how do you approach
personalization?
And again, like there's so manythings I want to ask you.
But this is obviously oneimportant component to increase
conversion rates and thelikelihood that people are going
to use the continue to use theplatform.

Speaker 1 (12:51):
So, yeah, how do you view personalization and how do
you continue to improve thatcustomer journey?
Yeah, so, when it comes to AI,you know, when I started in the
industry, ai was, you know, itwas in movies, it was in, you
know, science fiction novels andit's phenomenal.
You know, the last couple ofyears, these advancements that
we've seen.
I think more and more we'restarting to see these scenarios

(13:11):
that used to be entirely theoryand now, you know, now they're
moving into reality, moving intopractice, and so there's so
much untapped potential there.
I think it's going to be gamechanging for travel and also for
our B2B industry.
So, you're right, there'sdriving, there's personalization
, there's streamliningoperations, there's anticipating

(13:33):
.
You know trends, you know we.
There's AI.
You can take a vacation photoand say, hey, I want to, I want
to make a trip based on, youknow, these insights.
And so, when it comes to our B2Bpartners, they need a lot of
these same technologies.
The only difference is I'mcreating that, I'm building that
in a way so that it's scalableand flexible to operate with

(13:57):
their business, whether it's afinancial institution or an
airline or something else.
They ultimately need to makesure that they are giving all of
their travelers thatworld-class travel experience,
and so, because I can use thatsame base travel data set as the
foundation, just like ourconsumer brands are building

(14:17):
things on top of that forconsumers, I'm building the
tools B2B businesses need, andjust one quick example will be
fraud.
You know, using AI to detectfraud, I think in 2024, we
detected over $4 billion infraud and stopped that, which is
pretty phenomenal.

Speaker 2 (14:35):
Yeah, absolutely, and actually one of the things I
should probably take a step backand look at a broader picture
is how Expedia is approaching AI.
We've done a lot about AI onour podcast.
We have our AI Summit.
I had the opportunity tointerview Paul English from
Kayak and it was right after himand Steve Hafner had this sort
of argument on stage and I knowthey were playing it up a little
bit where Paul was talkingabout the fact he'd rather have

(14:58):
10 developers in AI today than1,000 developers 10 years ago
without AI, and he washighlighting all the benefits
that a startup has to leverageAI and what Steve Hafner, of
course, from Kayak, which Iunderstand is one of your
competitors because they'reowned by Booking and Expedia,
two of the big players but whathe was highlighting is that
actually the incumbents have amajor advantage because they

(15:18):
have brand, they have customersand, most importantly, just what
you just mentioned, you havedata, and so obviously you have
some of the richest data intravel, but, given the size and
scale of Expedia and so learningfrom that data to develop, you
know, whether it's smartershopping solutions or some

(15:38):
advanced service capabilities.
I guess take us through at ahigh level, how you guys are
approaching AI throughout theorganization.
I'm sure people have seen otherpeople from Expedia talk or
speak, but the fact I have thischance to actually ask you
directly and then we can look atall the implications of that,
because there are many.
So, I guess, broadly, how areyou looking at incorporating AI?
How does your team, how doesthe business?
How are you embracing it acrossthe business and then kind of

(16:01):
day to day?

Speaker 1 (16:03):
Yeah, so we are looking at AI from a few, a few
different angles.
And first off, I'll say, youknow, we've been using AI and ML
for many, many, many years.
What, what the difference is,is some of the more recent
advancements in AI technology.
It's unlocking additional,additional use cases above and

(16:24):
beyond what we have been able todo before, and so we're looking
at it from all angles.
So, historically, we've beensaying how do we make all of our
offerings more relevant, morepersonalized, how can we
streamline all of our operations?
So we are still doing that.
It's just that the technologylets us do it in new and better

(16:48):
and different ways.
That's what I would say.
And so we're using it to geteven better at the things that
we've been getting better at.
It's sort of that nextevolution.
We're also looking at, you know,use cases around productivity
that just weren't even possiblebefore, and so I think that's
probably one new area.

(17:10):
And then, finally, there's newproducts I think that you know
are going to be built that thistechnology enables, and that's
also where we're sort of leaningin there to determine this new
technology, plus all of thesetravel use cases, what are
entirely new things that we canbe building, and what we do is

(17:31):
we embed technology and what wealready do and then anything
that my team will be buildingand launching, you can bet there
is an element of AI as part ofthat, so we're just embedding it
in the core.
That way, it's super easy andseamless for all of our partners
to adopt and that way, we alsokeep technology focused on

(17:54):
adding value to the traveler.
Because technology is supercool, don't get me wrong, but
it's amazing.
It's impactful when you canreally sort of use it in a way
that solves a really difficultproblem.
When you can really sort of useit in a way that solves a
really difficult problem, letsyou address some huge
opportunity.

Speaker 2 (18:09):
So I'd love to just dive into that in a bit more
detail for a moment, becauseclearly you have the technical
experience and prowess to beable to have a conversation from
and we don't need to risklosing any of our listeners on
this journey about talking aboutspecific LLMs.
So I want to be mindful of thatat the same time.
But I guess one of the thingsthat I know our audience really

(18:30):
loves is if we have specific usecases and examples, and I was
recently looking at TUI'sstrategy.
Tui and I met their head of AIwhen I was at ITB and one of the
things they developed is theirown LLM that all of their team
members engage with and they usetheir own platform.
And then they've been busylooking at pain points across
their business and figuring outhaving champions in the

(18:52):
organization.
I just love this example becauseit's like they're using their
own.
They've developed their own LLMthat their own internal teams
use.
So it's one of the things I waskeen to know.
So I guess, do you havesomething similar in place at
Expedia?
And when it comes to looking atall these different large
language models and wrappingyour head around what you should
be using, are you using a widevariety of them.

(19:14):
Are you using them fordifferent use cases, depending
on where their strengths are, Imean, or have you established
some strong partnerships with acouple of AI companies?

Speaker 1 (19:22):
Yeah, I would say all of the above companies.
Yeah, I would say all of theabove.
We definitely have some modelsof our own.
We are partnering with otherexternal AI companies and we're
looking at the same.
We're looking at internalproductivity cases.
There's a lot of data out there, but there's a lot of data that

(19:43):
we have around productivitythat is like very uniquely ours,
and so we're definitelytraining models using that data
of our own.
It gives us really relevant,like really, yeah, really
impactful applications of AI,and so productivity is a very,
very big focus for us.

(20:04):
But then I think also and sothat's kind of maybe bucket one,
the second bucket, and againthat is, we have a bunch of
existing products and offers.
We do have AI and ML sort ofembedded in them.
How do we make those evenbetter with some of this new
technology?
And we are we're not limitingourselves right now we're
looking across the board at allof the different AI, the LLMs

(20:28):
and all of the different AImodels and tools and offerings
to sort of to continue improvingthere.
And then the last bucket, youknow sort of entirely new AI
products.
And this is where we're leaninginto our B2B innovation center
and really experimenting quicklythrowing things away quickly.
There's new models, likethere's new versions of models

(20:49):
at least twice a week right now,and so that fast cycle of
experimenting and taking somerisk and encouraging innovation
and then also taking thatlearning to get better the next
time.
We're also sort of providing aspace that we can sort of play
with all of that.

Speaker 2 (21:06):
Yeah, the whole lab side and experimentation.
It excites me greatly because,obviously, the idea of being
able to develop new technologyand roll it out, how do you
approach that?
So, now that you're a roadmap,because clearly you have
developers that are leveragingAI and you're constantly
deciding what you're going torelease new features and
functionality and I know youguys have quite an advanced

(21:28):
technology stack where youintegrate all of these
businesses.
It's one of the things that hasalways been a strength of
Expedia, as you've acquiredcompanies and you build them
right into the whole system andyou figure out how to leverage.
And that's a huge challenge formost companies to scale the way
Expedia has, but it's been sucha strength.
So, when it comes to actuallyintroducing some of this new

(21:48):
functionality, what is thatjourney like?
And again, because I get to askyou, because you're a head of
development, you've gotdevelopers that are working
there.
So, as people are excitinglymaking breakthroughs and coming
to you and saying, wait a second, we can now do this, how
quickly do those advances end upactually being released to
customers?
How?

Speaker 1 (22:07):
quickly.
Do those advances end upactually being released to
customers?
Yeah, so the way that weapproach it and that is, we are
always putting our partners sortof at the center of everything
that we are doing and we take avery consultative approach.
So first, you know, we need tounderstand our partners really,
really well.
We have years of travelexpertise.

(22:28):
We have years of these B2Bpartnership expertise, and so
that's the first thing that wedo is we focus on, like, what is
that challenge, what is thatopportunity?
And then, as we build, as wedesign things, we sort of make
sure this has got to be easy,it's got to be seamless for our
partners to adopt.

(22:49):
We have got to be there.
You know, they are operating abusiness and we need to make
sure that they remaincompetitive and we need to sort
of be that key travel techprovider for them.
And so that's really where, youknow, we try to make sure that
we're meeting partners wherethey are, so they could be new
to the travel space, they couldbe well established, and so, if

(23:10):
you think about that, as we'reworking with partners, it's
going to vary a little bit,because some partners are really
sort of pushing the limits andpushing the edge around.
How do we co-innovate together?
How do we build new thingstogether?
Let's go and do that.
Build new things together,let's go and do that.
And then other types ofpartnerships.
They kind of want things thatare we are investing a bit more

(23:35):
time, we spend more time sort ofproving it and learning in
other areas, and then they wantto adopt it at that point.
So we're kind of working withmultiple models, I would say, at
once.

Speaker 2 (23:42):
That's really interesting, and one of the
things on this topic is that,trying to work with Expedia in
the past with guided touring andsome of the other categories
I've worked in one of the thingsthat was always important was
figuring out the API and whetherwe already had an application
interface.
For anyone that is not familiarwith that terminology, and I
think one of the things aboutAPIs today that is really
exciting with AI is they can bewritten so much faster,

(24:09):
something that used to take youknow, are you going to write to
our API or we're going to writeto your API and you make that
decision.
It was time consuming and youhad to put it on a long list of
priority considerations, rightTo figure out when you're going
to get to that Q4 or next.
You know, like the and so you,you have to make very prudent
business decisions about wherethe opportunity is, and so I'm
keen now, with AI, I guess,speeding things up and allowing

(24:32):
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And of okay, well, we need towork with the right channel
partner that's alreadyintegrated with Expedia at the
same time, so they're trying tobring more innovative

(26:59):
developments to the offeringthat say, you know, you can now

(27:32):
get this from our feed.
So, yeah, but just in terms, Iguess, of how people should be
thinking about trying to workwith Expedia.
I'd love to get your view onthat, as to how you would, how
you'd recommend them to set themup to succeed, to be able to
partner with you.

Speaker 1 (27:46):
Yeah, so we, um, we have a partner website, um,
partnerexpediagroupcom and um,certainly I encourage uh, anyone
, everyone, to go there.
Um, but the way that we workwith partners, so we really
start with, we have integrationspecialists and these
integration specialists are sortof working with these partners

(28:08):
to make sure we have a supersmooth integration.
If we are sort of, if it's anew partnership, there's ongoing
monitoring and support afterlaunch.
You know we're continuously,you know improving and
innovating.
You know, sort of once partnersgo live and then once a partner
is live, that's where we'reevaluating, we're expanding into
new offerings, you know, basedon what partners need.

(28:31):
So, once a partner is live, wehave a couple of options that
you know it would be the core ofour B2B offering.
We have our white labeltemplate and this is basically a
template.
It seamlessly integrates intothe partner's loyalty program,

(28:52):
so it helps them drive memberengagement and create stickiness
and they maintain that brandidentity.
Dan, you talked about APIs.
So we have a rapid API.
This is a simple, modular,industry-leading API.
It.
This is designed fortraditional travel advisors.
So it's this really, you know,world-class booking experience.

(29:31):
So travel advisors can sort offocus on, you know, their
travelers and it makes the restof booking travel really easy
and gives it to them right attheir fingertips.
We've got a bunch of otheroffers, like fraud prevention,
which I mentioned earlier, ai'sembedded.
You know we prevented fourbillion dollars in fraud last
year in 2024 on Expedia sites,and so lots, lots and lots of

(29:54):
other offerings like that beyondour standard offerings.
When it comes to AI, one thingthat that we've been doing a lot
more of and that's some reallyrapid prototyping.
That's something that you knowyou talked about using AI to
adopt an API more quickly.
For us, when we're working withB2B partners, we can do some

(30:15):
super rapid prototyping wheneverwe see an opportunity or a
challenge, and then there'ssomething very real and concrete
without, you know, taking sixmonths to build something new.

Speaker 2 (30:25):
Yeah, you brought up a really interesting topic and
one thing I did want to makesure we discussed as well, which
is travel agents, because eversince the arrival of Expedia on
the scene, everyone haspredicted their demise and all
of a sudden, you had OTAs,online travel agencies, and now,
with AI, their demise has beenpredicted again, and the reality
is is that travel agents arethriving and doing as well as

(30:46):
ever and we did a series on thison season four about the
renaissance of travel advisors,and and so I wanted to
understand how Expedia does workwith travel advisors, because I
know that you have all theseB2B offerings, but, again, I
don't think that actually isthat most people are aware of
that.
So tell us a little bit abouthow you do work with
intermediaries like traveladvisors.
You mentioned about the whitelabel solution, but, yeah, what

(31:06):
are some of the tools that youhave to to power these
home-based agents that want tooffer Expedia product?

Speaker 1 (31:13):
Yeah, so, uh, tap, Expedia, tap, that's our travel
advisor platform and it's reallya um, it's really kind of a
booking platform.
So you're exactly right, Like Ithink of anything, you know, AI.
It's repeating some of the samethings over and over because
it's learning from all the sameinformation, and that is really,

(31:34):
I think, a huge opportunity andwhere travel advisors play a
huge role.
They have very, very uniqueexperience and you know they
will be able to serve travelersin a way that AI will never be
able to serve travelers.
But what we are doing in ourtravel advisor tool is we are

(31:55):
using AI to simplify some of theoperational aspects, and so you
know a virtual agent that atravel advisor can use and sort
of really quickly manage, youknow any changes to the booking
or things like that.
Pulling together quotes thattravel advisors can share with
their travelers across, you knowmultiple different products and

(32:17):
offers.
All of these are things likeanything that we can do to free
up a travel advisor's time sothey are working with their
traveler and not spending alltheir time working in technology
and tools is what our goal isthere.

Speaker 2 (32:33):
Yeah, it's interesting.
There's companies like Fora thathave come along that have
introduced travel advisortechnology and there seems to be
, you know, the big focusFocusrite highlighted this in
their Q1 report for 2025, thatin Q4 2024, most of the
investment for the very firsttime went to travel startups
that were focused on B2B, andthere are so many great
solutions.

(32:53):
So that's why I actually wantedto unpack a little bit about
what Expedia is doing in thisspace, because if, all of a
sudden, you've got startups thatare offering tools for travel
advisors and all of a sudden,you've got more travel advisors
than ever that are looking forthese types of platforms to
expand the product offeringwhether it be cruises or guided
tours what are the options theycan provide to their guests?

(33:14):
Because, you're absolutely right, it's the one thing we're
definitely still seeing is thatthat personal touch is more
important than ever and owningthe client relationship that
they've you know, some of thesetravel advisors have had these
relationships with customers for, you know, 10 or 20 years, and
they literally just rely ontheir travel agent to tell them
where they should go next ontheir trip.
But that, but that travel agentneeds to have all the

(33:35):
technology to power their officeand like, yeah, so I guess
where are you seeing that interms of the growth potential in
2025?
Is that?
I know you're focused on theB2B side.
Is the TAP a specific area thatyou guys are really focused on
investing and scaling?

Speaker 1 (33:49):
Yeah, absolutely.
We have been making a hugeinvestment, I will say, in our
travel advisor offering and thatis part of our overall B2B set
of technology.
We have everything, dan, wehave everything in B2B.
We want to power all types ofbusinesses, but it's a huge area
of investment and that'sbecause we see, and all of our

(34:12):
data tells us the same Traveladvisors play an extremely
important role, I would say, andwill continue to do so, so the
more and more we can help themjust make what they love doing
easier and better.
That's what we want to do.
We want to provide greattraveler experiences.

Speaker 2 (34:30):
So let's give them a couple of examples, because we
definitely have a lot of traveladvisors that listen to our
podcast and they're alwayslooking for use cases and ways
they can improve on what they'redoing.
So I'm sure there are somefeatures or some functionality
that you've recently introducedthat you might be particularly
proud of.
But if you wouldn't mind, Iguess, sharing with us like one
or two examples of some of thetechnology you've rolled out to

(34:53):
to better power travel advisors.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
Yeah, so a couple of the a couple of the things that
we do in our travel advisoroffering, and one is we have a
quotation tool offering, and oneis we have a quotation tool.
So what this quotation tooldoes is it really helps advisors
sort of really quickly andseamlessly put together, because
a travel advisor you knowyou're going to be talking to a

(35:16):
client they may want to go backand think about it, so a travel
advisor needs to put together aquote and sort of collect.
Here's all of the differentthings that we talked about.
You know, you can sit, you cansit back, you can think about it
, you can do some yeah, do someresearch on your own if you want
, and so that's one of thethings that we have as part of

(35:37):
our travel advisor offering.
And this quotation tool.
It's giving advisors access tothese amazing rates, this super
rich inventory that we have atExpedia, and so I think there's
the tools on top of it, but thenI think there's also this
amazing supply that we havewithin Expedia that makes that

(35:57):
even better.
So that's one of the examples.
Another example is we have avirtual agent, and so there's a
lot of you know bots out thereand stuff.
But the virtual agent that wehave, it is trained on this
massive amount of travel data,first of all, and we have also
tailored it a bit further sothat you know it is designed for

(36:22):
helping travel advisors andallows them to operate, you know
, as a travel advisor.
It helps them, you know,address any sort of like
customer service issues in adifferent and unique way,
because as a travel advisor,you're solving a customer
service issue, whereas you knowa bot that's geared towards a
traveler or a consumer.

(36:42):
You're solving service issuesin kind of a slightly different
model.

Speaker 2 (36:46):
Very interesting and I appreciate you sharing those
two examples, because I'm surethat is exactly what our
listeners would be most keen toknow.
The other thing I also wantedto dive into is the product
offering, because, as traveladvisors are getting wider
interest from everything fromyou know cruises to safaris to
even you know in destinationexperiences.
I know you've added activitiesinto your offering, but clearly

(37:10):
the core of OTAs business istypically flight, car and hotel
and again, I know that reallywell from building out these
tools and it's so I mean.
But the reality today is thattravelers want so much more than
just those three things.
Those are the essentials, right, they need a place to stay,
they need a way to get there andthey need a way to get around
typically.
But one of the things that Iknow you guys have really pushed
into is the accommodation space, and it was one of the most

(37:32):
exciting developments because Iwas very early to VRBO Vacation
Rentals by Owner, which was anamazing business, and a number
of those short-term rentalcompanies were all acquired by
HomeAway.
And then Expedia bought HomeAwayand then rebranded it as VRBO
or Vrbo to compete againstAirbnb.
And so, all of a sudden, youguys have, you know, you've

(37:53):
developed a strength inshort-term rentals beyond hotels
.
So I guess what I'm keen toknow is what are the areas that
you are pushing into in terms ofnew product?
So, obviously, a big categorylike accommodation is obviously
going to be incredibly important, but are there other smaller
niches as well that you're nowable to tap into, because you
have the technology and it'smuch more efficient than ever to

(38:15):
start bringing in, you know,tours and activities,
experiences, some of the thingsyou may not have spent the time
and energy on before becausethere wasn't necessarily as big
a revenue opportunity.
So, yeah, what are some of thebig product focus areas on the
B2B side that you're pushinginto and that you are seeing the
greatest growth from?

Speaker 1 (38:33):
Yes, so for different products, because we are
building these sort of B2Btailored solutions on top of
this amazing Expedia platform.
We get a bit of an accelerationbecause when we're adding these
additional you know sort ofoffers and services, products

(38:54):
for Expedia Group, that means wealso get access to those as
part of our B2B business.
And so, definitely Verbos,vacation rentals are definitely
something you know you canaccess through any of our
different offers, whether it isour API, our template or our
travel advisor tools, and sothat is definitely an area

(39:17):
that's there.
Now it exists Activities aswell.
We do have activities and weactually activities is it's?
It's super interesting.
I would say.
This is one, like you said, itwasn't historically one of those
core travel offerings, and so Ithink activities and is from an
industry perspective, is in alittle bit different place.

(39:39):
It's a bit fragmented comparedto some of the others, and so we
see that also as a hugeopportunity.
We already see a lot of our youknow, a lot of our B2B partners
booking that, and so that'sdefinitely an area that's super
interesting for us and, I think,for the industry overall.

Speaker 2 (39:58):
Definitely.
I mean, there's a huge rise inpeople booking those tours and
activities, and I know some ofmy colleagues, like Jose from
Amigo Tours, works with ExpediaTap, and I've heard more and
more recently about companiesthat are embracing your
technology and seeing salesthrough the platform.
So I'm excited to see that youare entering that space as well,

(40:19):
because I think there's hugeopportunity in the tours and
activities space.
Is there any other categoriesthat you are looking at or that
you are seeing the greatestgrowth from, because obviously
there's so many niches withintravel?
But, yeah, is there any otherareas that you're looking to
explore, or is there any ofthese that are really standing

(40:41):
out to you, like accommodation?
That is just going fromstrength to strength.

Speaker 1 (40:45):
For us, the one of the big focuses.
It is on where, where, anywhere, that we can make that travel
experience more seamless.
So any of these sort of likeancillary services and add-ons
or things like that, those areall things that we're exploring,
and I say that because you knowtravel as a whole.

(41:06):
There are definitely it's notas fragmented, for sure, as it
once was, but there's still tonsof opportunity to make that
entire trip more seamless, andso that's really what what we're
kind of looking at.

Speaker 2 (41:18):
And um in terms of the ways that people can think
about working with um, thepartner Expedia group and the
partner side, because one of thethings that also um as we're
talking about inventory like theum, how people can distribute
their inventory through Expedia,that's certainly obviously what
Amigo Tours is looking to doand that is how much I guess of

(41:39):
the business is those solutionslike actually welcoming and
expanding the offering.
Is that still remain animportant element, for you're
looking to aggregate moreinventory?
And like is there any specificareas that listeners to this are
like wait a second, I need tomake sure I get on Expedia
because I didn't realize thiswas an option.
Yeah, how important is that?

(42:05):
That growth area specifically,because I'm assuming you've got
so much demand you'recontinually looking for more
inventory right, right, yeah, no, definitely we.

Speaker 1 (42:12):
We have amazing supply, I will say already, but
we also are always, always there, always, always.
You know there's more supply,we will sell more supply, and so
I think the what we focus on iswhere can we add additional
rates, additional inventory,additional operators, all of

(42:35):
this where it's a very highquality experience, Because I
think that's that is the otherthing with Expedia, and that is
we.
We are very focused on makingsure that complete traveler
experiences is really, reallyoutstanding, and so I think this
is where all of thosepartnerships can be super, super
valuable for them, because youknow a lot of these homeowners
super valuable for them becauseyou know a lot of these

(42:56):
homeowners and a lot of theseyou know tour providers.
They too, like these travelersthey care deeply about.
And so I think, from thatstandpoint, what Expedia wants
and what they want like they goreally well hand in hand.

Speaker 2 (43:09):
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That's gocollettecom.
And now back to the show.
So, karen, it's fascinating tohear all the different ways that
Expedia's B2B business isgrowing.
We've talked about travelagents.
We've talked about distributionand tours and activities.
So we've talked about product.
But one of the things I waskeen to get your take on is how
it all ties together.

(46:39):
How do you make it seamless toeither a B2B customer or a B2C?
Is it more app-based?
Is it more web-based?
How are you seeing andproposing the integration, the
consumer experience?

Speaker 1 (46:48):
That's an element to making it seamless.
And so one is seamless whetheryou are on a desktop or whether
you're on your mobile device orsort of wherever you are.
That is definitely a very bigfocus, and Expedia and making
sure all of that's superseamless, I think also on you
know the communication and evenhow you're interacting with that

(47:09):
travel experience you know youcould be using, you know
WhatsApp or you know many, many,many other forms of
communication, and so that is avery important focus, as well as
making sure the traveler, we'remeeting the traveler where
they're at, across any of thesedevices.
That's one element of seamless.
Another element of seamless isjust all the many touch points

(47:31):
whenever you go on a trip andsort of all of the many
opportunities each of thosetouch points have to introduce
some sort of delay, failure,interruption, and so I think
that's a second category of youknow where we're focusing to
make travel more seamless.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
So one of the things that we obviously all struggle
with is when things arehappening in silos, like if
someone's engaging with you on achat or like, and that's why I
was keen to know, just given thelevel of sophistication, as to
Expedia's tech prowess and theplatform you've built.
And so the one other questionI'm just keen to know is that
when you are I'll use myself asan example when I'm booking on

(48:11):
Expedia, like especially, youhave all your regional websites,
expediaca, expediacom whenyou're interacting, how much of
that data flow is across theentire platform?
I guess what I'm asking is,like the big eye of Expedia that
is kind of trying to identifyall the different users and all
the places they are.
For the most part is almostevery touch point, trying to

(48:39):
connect to a larger data sourcethat is trying to tie those user
profiles together, to try andmake sure that, as you say,
between desktop or web-based isthat is the key trying to get
user profiles, people logged in,so that then you know, wherever
they are, that you'reinteracting with that person.
I just, yeah, I guess I'm justkeen to know how much
integration there is between allthese different platforms,
given that complexity.

Speaker 1 (48:59):
No, yeah, definitely, that is.
That is one, one big focus.
You know, you, you, if youdon't have that sort of common
identity, you you won't knowthat that's the same person on
the app that's on the desktop.
And even for you know some ofour, our own.
You know Expedia is one keyloyalty program.
It's really important to us.

(49:21):
You know that.
You know you are getting yourone key points.
You know you're booking onExpedia, you're booking on
hotelscom, you're booking on youknow any of those consumer
brands those are all, yeah,having that common identity is
definitely one aspect of that.

Speaker 2 (49:36):
That's great to know because one of my so I use
hotelscom as a standalone and I,and like I use hotelscom and
one of my favorite parts of theExpedia platform is Hotwire,
cause I'll.
Often, when I'm going to NewYork, I just know that I need to
be in the city and sometimesthe prices in New York are
really expensive and so, as longas I know, I can get a
four-star hotel in Times Squareand I'll just book with Hotwire

(49:56):
and get fantastic rates.
So that's why I was curious toknow, if even my Hotwire
activity is all kind of tappedinto who these profiles are.
Clearly that's the case.
You're tying everythingtogether in the back end.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
Right right.

Speaker 2 (50:09):
Yeah, now let's talk about where Expedia is headed.
We're having this conversation,of course, karen, in 2025.
And a lot of companies havethis 2030 view of what their
business is going to look like.
Clearly, you know as well asanybody or probably more than

(50:30):
most, I should say how AI isgoing to impact travel and how
it's changing week to week,month to month.
So it's very hard to predict,and one of the big topics for
sure is agentic AI today thatI'm sure you hear lots about and
are working on, and so, butyeah, I guess what I'd like to
know is where you think we'reheaded and what are some of the
exciting developments that youand the team are planning on
that we could look forward tocoming from Expedia.
So, again, that's where youdon't have to paint the

(50:52):
five-year view, maybe even justpaint the six to 12-month view
of where you think this isheaded, because I think enough
will change within that time.
So, yeah, what are some of thethings we should be paying
attention to with ExpediaPartner Services and where are
you headed on this technologyjourney?

Speaker 1 (51:06):
Yeah, it's true, the future of technology right now
it's constantly being rewritten,especially with AI.
Ai is really at the center ofthis transformation and there's
huge potential.
You know, the world of travelhas evolved, I will say, even

(51:30):
since I entered this industryover two decades ago.
It's going to keep doing that.
Since I entered this industryover two decades ago, it's going
to keep doing that.
Ultimately, we need to makesure that we're delivering the
best technology to help our B2Bbusinesses deliver great travel
experiences, and we will do thatto the full extent of what

(51:51):
technology enables, and so thatmeans we are focused on building
products that make sure ourpartners remain competitive, and
so to you know, to that end,there's a whole bunch of
products that you know we'recoming, that we're building.
But I think the big thing is,all of these are embedded with
AI, they're improved with AI,and we're sort of continuously

(52:14):
innovating across all of thosewith AI.
Yeah, I've AI and we're sort ofcontinuously innovating across
all of those with AI.

Speaker 2 (52:17):
Yeah, I've certainly.
I was just gave a presentationin Mobile, alabama to the
Educational Travel ConsortiumConference and I talked about
Expedia and OTAs and really topay close attention to your
developments, your roadmap,because you're clearly leading
the way.
You know you are a technologycompany at heart and that's
something that you know.
Expedia has always saidalthough you love travel, you're
a technology company that worksin the travel space, and so, um

(52:40):
, um, so I know we, I asked youthat question about travel and I
just wanted to ask you onepersonal question, um, which was
where you're traveling to next.
What is next on your list for2025 of the places you want to
travel to, and how are you goingto go about booking that?

Speaker 1 (52:57):
Well, you know where I'm going to book it, dan.
No, I probably my next trip isgoing to be Madrid, spain, and I
love going to Spain.
I love going to Madrid.
We have a.
We have a pretty big officethere, so that's my next trip.
But my next personal trip is Iwould love to go see the

(53:19):
Northern Lights.
That's one thing that I havenot done and I keep saying I'm
going to do it.
So this is the year and I'mbooking on Expedia.

Speaker 2 (53:28):
Yes, well, you have to come to Canada for the
Northern Lights.
There's lots of places you cansee Northern Lights, but
Frontiers North Churchill,manitoba it's one of the most
spectacular places to go and seeit.
I'm sure John and his team havetheir tours bookable on Expedia
so you can get them there.
But yes you can go to Iceland.
You can go to many placesAlaska, but I would highly

(53:48):
recommend a trip to Canada.
Also, I wanted to make sure,given the conversation we've had
, the number of things thatwe've touched on together, I'm
sure there's many people thatare going to look to reach out
to you.
I know we've mentioned thepartner website, but I would
love to get one more piece ofadvice from you for all of our
listeners that are looking towork with Expedia on the B2B
side.

Speaker 1 (54:16):
So a piece of advice and then where they should go
for more information to connectwith you or the team.
We did a 2025 Traveler ValueIndex study, and so we know 87%
of travelers have said they arelikely to book through a
non-travel provider, and so thatmeans a financial institution,
a bank, a credit card, aretailer.
We partner with SoFi, wepartner with Walmart.

(54:36):
We have a lot of these amazingB2B partnerships and they want
to book with them, but they wantto book with those folks where
they are being powered by areally well-known travel brand
like Expedia, because thatcreates that trust, that trust
in the travel offer.
And so that's my advice is youshould definitely partner with

(54:58):
Expedia's B2B business.
We're trusted in travel.
We have amazing technology.
We have probably the mosttravel expertise and technology
expertise and B2B partnershipsthan you will find.
So, yeah, come join us.
Us like together we can makethis industry amazing and we'll

(55:19):
keep moving forward together.
Visit our partner website atpartnerexpediagroupcom.

Speaker 2 (55:27):
That's great.
I've one of the big partiesevery year, the, the, the
Expedia party in in Las Vegas.
I've been a couple of times.
Everyone talks about it likethe partner conference.
It is truly epic, like it'snext level.
For those of you that want toknow how Expedia parties, it's
quite something to be a part of,but also it's just.
The conference obviouslyhighlights all of the different

(55:50):
innovations.
So I just wanted to add that aswell, because I've learned a
lot from attending thoseconferences over the years.
So I just wanted to add that aswell, because I've learned a
lot from attending thoseconferences over the years.
So what are some of the otherones that people should pay
attention to for Expedia eventsif they want to actually attend
some of these functions that arecoming up over the course of
the?
You know, sort of major travelconferences?

Speaker 1 (56:22):
I'll be speaking at Focusrite here in a couple of
months in Barcelona.
We were at ITB, you know, acouple of weeks ago, like you'll
find us at most travelconferences.
So I would say, whateverconference that you might be
going to, just take a look andlike, find some of those folks
at Expedia, because we, we love,we do love travel, I will say
at Expedia yeah, well, I'll lookforward to seeing you there.

Speaker 2 (56:43):
I was actually wondering if that when you go to
Madrid, because we'll both betogether at Focusrite Europe and
Barcelona.
It's going to be my firstEuropean Focusrite, which I'm
really looking forward to, sogreat to hear you're going to be
there as well, so we'll have achance to catch up in person.
But, yeah, I really appreciateyou making the time for this
conversation.
I've certainly learned a lot.
I could certainly do anotherhour and we'll have to have you
back on season six of TravelTrends and as we explore AI and

(57:06):
we've got our AI summit comingup later this year as well,
which obviously we'd love foryou to be, involved in in some
way, but you've kindly mentionedwhere to find out more
information.
Obviously, you're on LinkedIn aswell if people want to connect
with Karen Bolda directly.
But yeah, thank you so much formaking the time for this.
I'm really excited about ourpartnership and collaboration
with Expedia and I'm excited tosee what you do next, and so I'm

(57:27):
going to stay posted.
So, thanks a lot, karen.
I really appreciate you makingthe time for this.

Speaker 1 (57:30):
Amazing.
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (57:32):
Thanks so much for joining us on this latest
episode of Travel Trends.
I hope you enjoyed today'sconversation with Karen Bolda,
the B2B Chief Product andTechnology Officer at Expedia
Group.
I thoroughly enjoyed thisconversation.
I'm looking forward to morecollaborations with the team
over at Expedia, especially aswe go into Season 6, which
launches in September.
And don't forget to send overany recommendations you have for

(57:55):
guests or topics you want us tocover.
And also make sure that you goand register for the AI Summit
coming up at the end of Octoberat TravelTrendsPodcastcom.
Early bird tickets are availableuntil the end of June and now,
as I mentioned at the beginning,we have a lot of event
spotlights coming up over thenext few weeks, so make sure
you're subscribed on thestreaming platform of your

(58:15):
choice to be notified when newepisodes go live.
And, as you all know, we postclips and highlights from these
conversations, including the onetoday with Karen, on our social
channels at Instagram, YouTubeand LinkedIn, so be sure to
check us out there.
And also we send out ourmonthly newsletter, which is
coming out again shortly fromtravel trends podcastcom.
So be sure to go there and signup, and otherwise we will look

(58:41):
forward to having you join usfor our last deep dive of season
five next week ourin-destination experiences
before we close off with anamazing episode featuring the
founder of Viator, Rod Cuthbert.
Until next week, safe travels.