Expedia Group, Inc. Q1 FY2026 earnings call

A strong first quarter with solid execution, strategic priorities progress. AI reinforces core advantages, enhancing traveler experience through personalization, supply advantage, post-booking experience, and traffic acquisition. Progress on strategic priorities: delivering value to travelers, investing in growth opportunities, driving operating efficiencies and margin expansion. First quarter margin was highest in 15 years.

Consumer gross bookings were $24.8 billion, growing 10%, with revenue of $2.1 billion up 8%. Consumer EBITDA margins were approximately 20%, up 9 points year-over-year. B2B gross bookings grew 22% to $10.7 billion, with B2B revenue up 25% to $1.2 billion and EBITDA margins at 22.7%, approximately flat year-over-year.

Second quarter expected gross bookings growth 7%-9% and revenue growth 9%-11%, EBITDA margins up 50-100 basis points. Full year expected gross bookings growth 6-8% and revenue growth 6-9%, EBITDA margins expansion 100-125 basis points.

Macro environment uncertainty including Middle East conflict and Mexico travel advisories causing cancellations and booking trend changes; AI related cost increase risks.

Q: Brian Nowak asked about macro trends in April/May and U.S. growth.

A: January/February had strong momentum, March slowed due to Mexico and Middle East, cancellations normalized in April, U.S. domestic bookings accelerated.

Q: Eric Sheridan asked about consumer brands and marketing spend mix.

A: Brands in good spot, mix of brand and performance spend, using AI for efficiencies.

Q: Justin Post asked about marketing leverage and back half.

A: Strong marketing leverage, balancing spend, lapping step function improvement.

Q: Jed Kelly asked about Uber partnership and AI costs.

A: Excited about Uber partnership, AI costs increasing but teams managing.

Q: Ken Gorelsky asked about B2B segment.

A: B2B grew 22%, impacted by Middle East, recovered in April, API was largest growth contributor.

Q: Kevin Kopelman asked about Uber deal incrementality.

A: B2B has value proposition, consumer brands focus on retaining loyal customers.

Q: Deepak Mathavanan asked about AI traffic and B2C growth.

A: Experimenting with AI channels, B2C growth strong with brands contributing.

Q: Alex Brignall asked about AI direction and growth trends.

A: AI can be discovery layer, growth continued in Jan/Feb, then decelerated.

Q: Navid Khan asked about Uber partnership use case and vacation rentals.

A: Uber partnership use case varied, vacation rentals on Expedia at $1 billion annualized run rate.

Q: Connor Cunningham asked about March/April trends and airfare impact.

A: April rebounded from March, airfare rise impacts bundling but no dramatic shift in behavior