Expedia 2010 Annual Report Download - page 46

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A discussion of the critical assets that we leverage in achieving our business strategy follows:
Portfolio of Travel Brands. We seek to appeal to the broadest possible range of travelers, suppliers and
advertisers through our collection of industry-leading brands. We target several different demographics, from the
value-conscious traveler through our Hotwire brand to luxury travelers seeking a high-touch, customized
vacation package through our Classic Vacations brand.
We believe our flagship Expedia brand appeals to the broadest range of travelers, with our extensive product
offering ranging from single item bookings of discounted product to dynamic bundling of higher-end travel
packages. Our Hotels.com site and its international versions target travelers with premium hotel content such as
360 degree tours and hotel reviews. In the United States, Hotels.com generally appeals to travelers with shorter
booking windows who prefer to drive to their destinations, and who make a significant portion of their travel
bookings over the telephone.
We have a robust and growing advertising business, led primarily by the efforts of the TripAdvisor Media
Network, which offers travel and other advertisers a host of alternatives for reaching customers in our prime
demographic. The majority of advertising revenue is generated through click-based advertising, but we also have
a growing display advertising business as well as other new products such as hotel business listings, vacation
rentals, and a new private sale site, SniqueAway. TripAdvisor generates customer traffic to its sites by offering a
broad and deep selection of hotel reviews and other user-generated content to help travelers make decisions about
where to travel, where to stay and what to do while on vacation. We also generate advertising revenue on our
transaction sites, primarily through efforts of Expedia Media Solutions.
Egencia makes travel products and services available on a managed basis to corporate travelers in North
America, Europe and the Asia Pacific region.
We believe our appeal to suppliers and advertisers is further enhanced by our geographic breadth and range
of business models, allowing them to offer their products and services to the industry’s broadest range of
travelers using our various agency, merchant and advertising business models. We intend to continue supporting
and investing in our brand portfolio, geographic footprint and business models for the benefit of our travelers,
suppliers and advertisers.
Technology and Content Innovation. Expedia has an established tradition of technology innovation, from
Expedia.com’s inception as a division of Microsoft to our introduction of more recent innovations such as
Expedia’s introduction of opaque hotel inventory through its new Unpublished Rates product, TripAdvisor
Media Network’s launch of the new private sale site, SniqueAway, through its Smarter Travel Media brand, and
Expedia Affiliate Network’s introduction of EAN Package Rates, that gives Expedia affiliates the ability to
bundle their inventory with Expedia hotel package rates. In addition, in 2010, we increased our focus on mobile
offerings and acquired Mobiata, a mobile application development company, to accelerate these efforts.
We intend to continue innovating on behalf of our travelers, suppliers and advertisers with particular focus
on improving the traveler experience, supplier integration and presentation, platform improvements, search
engine marketing and search engine optimization.
Global Reach. Our Expedia, Hotels.com and TripAdvisor Media Network brands operate both in
North America and internationally. We also offer Chinese travelers an array of products and services through our
majority ownership in eLong and through our TripAdvisor brands daodao.com and kuxun.cn, and we offer hotels
to European-based travelers through Venere. In 2010, approximately 36% of our worldwide gross bookings and
38% of worldwide revenue were international.
Egencia, our corporate travel business, operates in North America, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and the
Asia Pacific region using direct points of sale as well as strategic partnerships. We believe the corporate travel
sector represents a significant opportunity for Expedia, and we believe we offer a compelling technology solution
to businesses seeking to optimize travel costs and improve their employees’ travel experiences. We intend to
continue investing in and expanding the geographic footprint and technology infrastructure of Egencia.
In expanding our global reach, we leverage significant investments in technology, operations, brand
building, supplier relationships and other initiatives that we have made since the launch of Expedia.com in 1996.
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