Expedia Is Back on a Shopping Spree and Wants to Be Travel’s Plumbing

0:00ZS is a global consulting and technology firm that partners with companies to improve life and how we live it. Working with the world's top hospitality brands, ZS brings together data, science, technology, and human ingenuity to transform ideas into customer loyalty. They're ready to help you elevate guest experiences, improve operations, and uncover preferences and motivations through their AI-powered solutions. With more than 1 ,700 clients in over 170 countries, ZS has built the expertise, fortitude, and vision to help you deliver impact right where it matters.

0:47Tasmin Lockwood: Today, we are following Expedia's biggest shopping spree in over a decade. Airbnb's new foothold in corporate travel And Hilton's bid to make you ask Is this Hilton? Welcome back to the Skiff Daily Briefing It's Wednesday, November 11, 2026 I'm Tasman Lockwood, Skiff's climate and experiences reporter Let's get into it First up, Expedia is back in deal mode According to its latest filing, Expedia spent$676 million on three acquisitions in the first nine months of this year. That's its most active stretch since 2015. The filing doesn't name the targets, but Skift has identified them as attractions platform tickets, car rental and ground transportation platform car trawler, and AI trip planner Leila.

1:38Tasmin Lockwood: Two of the three are business-to-business, the technology and inventory that airlines, banks, and travel agencies use to build their own travel offerings. CEO Ariane Gorin says Expedia wants to be a one-stop shop for its partners, and she signaled more deals are coming. For perspective, in 2015, Expedia spent nearly$6 billion buying HomeAway, Orbitz, and Travelocity. This year, it has spent more than twice as much on share buybacks as it has on acquisitions. The bottom line? This isn't a land grab for consumers. it's a bet on becoming the plumbing behind everybody else's travel business. Next, staying on the B2B theme, Airbnb just got a lot easier to book for work.

2:26Tasmin Lockwood: PERC, the business travel and spend platform, announced Tuesday that it's the first travel management company to integrate Airbnb's API. Employees can now search Airbnb listings with live pricing and availability, book within company policy and send stays for approval alongside flights and rail, all without leaving Perk. Until now, staff had to book Airbnbs by hand through a concierge service. And even with that clunky process, Perk's Airbnb bookings reached double-digit millions last year. This year, they've already passed that. The data shows why. Airbnb nights booked through Perk are up 94 % over two years.

3:08Tasmin Lockwood: The average stay is nine nights, more than four times the typical hotel booking. Think field crews and long client projects. One of Perk's biggest Airbnb customers is a wind turbine maintenance company. It also fits a pattern. A few weeks ago, Airbnb became the exclusive B2B short-term rental provider for American Express Travel and CEO Brian Chesky called Partnerships one of the company's biggest untapped growth opportunities. The bottom line? Airbnb is done relying on organic growth. Now, it's going after corporate travel budgets. Finally, Hilton has an awareness problem and is trying to fix that with a big question.

3:50Tasmin Lockwood: Hilton's fastest growing categories are luxury and lifestyle, with trailing 12-month net unit growth of 11 % and 20%. But many travelers don't know these hotels at Hilton. Enter the New Ways to Stay marketing campaign with the tagline, Is This Hilton? It launched on Emmys night and now has an estimated$2.5 million in national TV spending, plus live social posts tied to nominated shows. The campaign has drawn 72 million social views and features Paris Hilton and Formula One driver Lando Norris. And one ad, a stay in an upscale treehouse looks a lot like recent Airbnb campaigns. The real test is whether travellers' perception of Hilton actually shifts, and Hilton's marketing chief says that can take a long time.

4:40So, with 28 brands, Hilton's challenge isn't building variety,

4:45Tasmin Lockwood: it's getting travellers to believe it. That's your Skiff Daily Briefing for Wednesday, November 11th. I'm Tasman Lockwood. For more travel industry news and sharp analysis, head to skiff.com and sign up for the daily newsletter at skiff.com forward slash daily.

5:14ZS is a global consulting and technology firm that partners with companies to improve life and how we live it. Working with the world's top hospitality brands, ZS brings together data, science, technology, and human ingenuity to transform ideas into customer loyalty. They're ready to help you elevate guest experiences, improve operations, and uncover preferences and motivations through their AI-powered solutions. With more than 1 ,700 clients in over 170 countries, ZS has built the expertise, fortitude, and vision to help you deliver impact right where it matters.