Expedia CEO Peter Kern has led the online travel agency for three years, from its pandemic nadir to the post-COVID surge in travel. With that experience, one trend he says he doesn't see changing anytime soon is people traveling like there's no tomorrow. What's more, he says, people talk a good talk about climate change angst but are not modifying their behavior much.
Kern, a private equity executive and Expedia board director, took the helm of the company in April 2020 at the depths of the travel industry's woes, filling a corner office that had sat empty for months. While the travel industry has largely worked through the pent-up demand sparked by two years of limited travel in 2020 and 2021, Kern says the sector is still booming. Indeed, in its most recent quarter, Expedia's revenue rose 6%, helped in part by a 9% increase in hotel bookings. Last year, Expedia's revenue at $11.7 billion was more than double 2020's. Still, his prediction that this growth will last could be wishful thinking given that millions of Americans will have to resume paying down student loans this month, and inflation could curb their discretionary spending, including travel.
