Expedia Group Posts Record Q1 Profitability as B2B Business Widens Its Lead

Expedia Group opened 2026 with its best first-quarter profit margin on record, underpinned by a B2B business that continues to outgrow its consumer-facing brands by a significant margin.

The company reported gross bookings of $35.5 billion for the three months ended March 31, up 13% year over year. Revenue came in at $3.43 billion, a 15% increase. Adjusted EBITDA nearly doubled, rising 83% to $542 million, with margins expanding nearly 6 percentage points to 15.8%.

The numbers that stand out most are on the B2B side. Gross bookings through the B2B segment, which powers hotel inventory for airlines, banks, loyalty programmes, and corporate travel platforms, grew 22%. The consumer brands, Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo, grew at 10%. B2B revenue rose 25% while B2C revenue grew 8%. The engine driving Expedia Group right now is increasingly the white-label infrastructure sitting beneath third-party services, not the brands most hotel operators think of when they picture Expedia.

CEO Ariane Gorin said the company achieved "the highest first-quarter profitability in our history" despite what she called a "dynamic macroeconomic environment." Analysts had expected adjusted earnings per share of $1.39; Expedia delivered $1.96, beating that figure by 41%.

Trivago, in which Expedia holds a controlling stake, contributed $125 million in advertising and media revenue, a 47% jump year over year. That suggests the hotel metasearch platform is gaining traction with advertisers even as its headline profitability remains thin.

Capital allocation was active. Expedia bought back $700 million of its shares during the quarter and then announced a new $5 billion repurchase authorization. Free cash flow reached $3.75 billion, up 36% from a year earlier. Leadership is also in transition: Derek Andersen takes over as CFO on May 11, succeeding Scott Schenkel, who steps down after 16 months in the role. Schenkel leaves with margins in significantly better shape than when he took over.

For Q2, Expedia is guiding for gross bookings of $32.5 to $33.1 billion, representing growth of 7% to 9%, with revenue expected at $4.11 to $4.19 billion, up 9% to 11%.

For hotel operators, the B2B story has a practical edge. B2B now accounts for roughly 30% of Expedia Group's gross bookings, and that share keeps climbing. A meaningful and growing share of stays booked through corporate travel tools, airline loyalty portals, and bank rewards programmes are flowing through Expedia's infrastructure, often without the traveller knowing which platform is behind the booking. Properties that depend on those channels should think carefully about who controls the experience and whether their rates and content are optimised for that distribution path.

For properties selling primarily through the consumer-facing Expedia brands, the strong cash generation and margin improvement suggest the company has room to reinvest in product and technology. Whether any of that investment translates into better terms or new tools for lodging partners is a separate question, but the financial position is clearly healthier than it was a year ago.