Expedia (EXPE) Boosts Travel Experience With Latest Feature
Expedia Group EXPE continues to make strong endeavors to deliver an enhanced travel experience to its customers.
The latest introduction of a ChatGPT-powered in-app travel planning experience in collaboration with OpenAI attests to the abovementioned fact.
The new experience enables open-ended conversation for Expedia members and aids them in planning an organized and cost-efficient trip.
Users can seamlessly check the availability of hotels and flights on the back of an easy conversation through the new experience. Further, they can add a car or cab facility to the trip.
Additionally, the ChatGPT experience will provide various recommendations on which places to visit, how to get around and what to see and do.
We note that Expedia is likely to gain solid momentum among travelers based on this conversational trip planning feature.
Currently, the new experience is available in beta.
Expedia Group, Inc. Price and Consensus
Expedia Group, Inc. price-consensus-chart | Expedia Group, Inc. Quote
Growth Prospects
ChatGPT, a chatbot from OpenAI, has taken the world by storm since its launch at the end of last year. It has been captivating users by providing accurate and quick answers to complex questions.
ChatGPT has produced convincing results when tested by customers in their daily lives.
The latest move is expected to aid Expedia in further strengthening its footprint in the online travel booking space.
Per a report from Grand View Research, the global online travel booking market is expected to witness a CAGR of 9% between 2022 and 2030.
According to an Allied Market Research report, the market is likely to reach $1.8 trillion by 2031 by registering a CAGR of 14.8% between 2022 and 2031.
Moreover, by infusing a chatbot-like feature into its services, Expedia has positioned itself well to capitalize on the growth opportunities in the promising chatbot market.
A Precedence Research report indicates that the global chatbot market is expected to reach $4.9 billion by 2032 at a CAGR of 19.3% throughout 2023 to 2032.
Expedia’s growing prospects in these booming markets on the back of its strengthening services are expected to aid it in winning investors’ confidence in the near term.
Notably, EXPE has gained 4.6% in the year-to-date time frame, underperforming the industry’s growth of 15%.
Growing AI Initiatives
The latest move aligns with the company’s growing efforts toward integrating AI and Machine Learning (ML) capabilities into its product offerings.
Apart from the underlined experience, the company recently unveiled a plugin for ChatGPT that enables users to start a conversation directly on the ChatGPT site and make bookings using the Expedia plugin.
This apart, the company already offers AI-backed hotel comparison, price tracking for flights and trip collaboration tools.
Moreover, it provides personalized trip options for hotels, rooms, date ranges, price points and much more by leveraging AI and ML.
Further, the company’s AI-powered virtual agent helps travelers solve issues arising due to sudden trip changes.
Additionally, its price tracking tool uses AI and ML to seamlessly compare today’s flight prices with historical prices and track price fluctuations.
We believe strengthening its AI-powered product and services portfolio will continue to drive Expedia’s customer momentum in the days ahead. This, in turn, will likely contribute to the financial performance of the company.
Notably, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2023 revenues is pegged at $12.78 billion, indicating a growth of 9.6% from 2022.
Further, the consensus mark for 2023 earnings stands at $9.26 per share, reflecting a growth of 36.4% from 2022.
Zacks Rank & Stock to Consider
Currently, Expedia Group carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the retail-wholesale sector are Solo Brands DTC, Booking Holdings BKNG and AutoNation AN. While Solo Brands and Booking Holdings sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), AutoNation carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Solo Brands shares have gained 16.4% in the past year. The long-term earnings growth rate for DTC is currently projected at 17.35%.
Booking Holdings shares have gained 19.2% in the past year. The long-term earnings growth rate for BKNG is currently projected at 16.67%.
AutoNation shares have gained 20.9% in the past year. AN’s long-term earnings growth rate is currently projected at 3.54%.
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