Expedia Group reported a record second quarter on August 5, 2026: gross bookings up 12% year over year to $33.93 billion and revenue up 14% to $4.32 billion. The company said the US market grew at its strongest pace in 15 quarters.
The quarter in numbers
Adjusted EBITDA rose 23% to $1.119 billion and adjusted earnings per share rose 36% to $5.76, all ahead of expectations. Booked room nights grew 6% to 111.5 million. B2B revenue surged 23% while consumer brands grew 8%, and Expedia raised its full-year 2026 guidance on bookings, revenue, and EBITDA margins.
The quarter also brought strategic moves: Expedia acquired the AI trip-planning app Lela and the car-hire aggregator CarTrawler, and it became the first online travel agency to distribute Allegiant Air, adding low-cost air inventory to its packages.
What the B2B surge tells you
The standout detail for hoteliers is the 23% B2B growth, far ahead of the 8% consumer growth. Expedia's business-to-business arm powers bookings for other travel sellers, banks, and loyalty programs, which means Expedia inventory increasingly reaches travelers who never visit Expedia.com. Your rooms can sell through channels you have never heard of, as long as your Expedia connectivity is solid.
The AI booking layer is forming
Expedia's acquisition of the AI trip-planning app Lela is part of a bigger shift. Google put hotel booking inside AI Mode in August 2026, and industry data shows 56% of US travelers have already used AI for at least one trip in the past year. The way travelers find hotels is changing from search results to conversations.
For a small hotel, the preparation is unglamorous but important. Complete, accurate, structured content everywhere you are listed. AI assistants summarize from your photos, descriptions, amenities, and reviews. An algorithm skips thin or outdated listings the same way a human does, and faster. Keep your room types, amenities, and policies current on every channel, and keep collecting reviews, because review sentiment is one of the main signals these systems use.
Start with the basics that feed every system at once. A clear, keyword-rich property description, honest amenity lists, geotagged photos of rooms and surroundings, and a steady stream of recent reviews will serve you on Google, on Expedia, and inside whatever AI assistant the traveler asks next. One source of clean, current content that flows everywhere matters more than mastering each new platform. Consistency beats cleverness: the same description, amenities, and policies everywhere. Most small hotels already have the raw material in their phones. The work is curating it. Pick the twenty best photos, write one honest paragraph about the location, and keep both updated every season. That single habit does more for AI-era discoverability than any advertising budget you could spend.
Distribution is where the growth is
A record quarter built on double-digit bookings growth is a reminder that the OTA channel remains the primary way US travelers find and book international hotels. The US market growing at its fastest pace in nearly four years points to continued outbound demand into the fall and winter, which lines up with Central America's high season.
The practical takeaway is connectivity hygiene: accurate rates, live availability, and complete content on Expedia and its partner network. When demand runs hot, the properties with clean distribution capture the bookings while others lose them to stale inventory. Recama keeps your rates and availability synchronized across Expedia, Booking.com, Airbnb, and your direct channel from one place, so a record quarter for the OTAs can become a record quarter for you too.
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