Expedia Group’s recently announced USD$275 million partner recovery package is set to provide direct support to the Australasian accommodation sector, HM can reveal.
The global partner recovery package includes USD$250 million in marketing credits and financial relief and proprietary data for accommodation partners to track travel trends through a new analytics tool.
Expedia is also offering a new free online training program leveraging its global subject matter experts and resources, designed to provide new skills to workers impacted by the travel restrictions.
Speaking exclusively to HM, Expedia Group’s Senior Director – Market Management Oceania, Drew Bowering, said the package was about helping hoteliers navigate these challenging times.
“Throughout this crisis, we continued listening to the needs of both travellers and our partners to help inform our recovery response efforts,” he said.
“The result is a multi-tiered action plan that focuses on direct support for accommodation partners, helping destinations to recover, restoring customer confidence in travel and investing in training and education for the travel industry’s workforce.”
Bowering told HM it was imperative Expedia reached out to assist many small operators, particularly across Australia.
“Importantly for Australia, small and independent accommodation partners make up majority of the properties listed on our sites,” he said. “We believe the recovery program will make them more visible to customers while keeping more money in their pockets.
“We are providing ways to help our partners get back on their feet, particularly those in regional Australia who were already hurting from the bushfires earlier this year.”
Bowering said to better understand when demand will return to a market, Expedia Group is providing proprietary data to track trends through a new analytics tool called ‘Market Insights’.
“One of the top asks from our Australian partners is to be able to view demand trends,” he told HM. “This is why we have developed a brand new dynamic dashboard with proprietary search data from across the Expedia Group business.
“This new ‘Market Insights’ dashboard will be a free tool for our partners to help them better understand when demand will return and where it will come from.”
Bowering said to support chains and owner groups, Expedia Group released a streamlined version of its optimised distribution solution that allows lodging suppliers to more effectively manage the distribution of wholesale rates among third party travel providers.
He said the solution is designed to increase revenue by favourably positioning supply partners’ inventory across a network that include airlines, loyalty and membership organisations, financial institutions, offline travel agencies, and more.