Powering growth together at EXPLORE Connect B2B

This week in Singapore, we gathered with partners from the APAC region at Expedia Group’s EXPLORE Connect B2B event to trade bold insights, spark innovation, and accelerate momentum for the future of travel.

Leaders came together with a shared goal of delivering exceptional traveler experiences. Throughout the event, the message was clear: When we partner and innovate together, we're unstoppable in our collective success.

Expedia Group’s B2B business is a force multiplier for our partners. In 2024, we delivered 135 million room nights for hotel partners through our vast B2B network of 160,000 travel advisors and 70,000 partners. From expanding supply with Vrbo inventory and new airline partners to fueling smarter campaigns with merchandising, the opportunities to grow together have never been stronger.

Dive into our key takeaways from the event and learn how to grow your business with Expedia Group.

Throughout the day, partners learned from case studies, keynotes, and live discussions that highlighted how Expedia Group is delivering innovative solutions to help our partners meet travelers’ evolving needs.

One key insight: Today’s travelers want to book complete trips. According to our 2025 Traveler Value Index, an overwhelming 69% are bundling hotel stays with air, cars, or activities. For our partners, this means meeting travelers at every stage of their booking journey. 

At Expedia Group, we’re building the next chapter of B2B travel by expanding our Rapid API ecosystem to enable our partners to offer complete trips seamlessly:

We introduced our new Merchandising Solutions, which include enhanced API endpoints and a dedicated Partner Portal — designed to help partners accelerate campaign execution with greater agility, precision, and intelligence.

These solutions enable partners to:

• Directly access deals tied to each campaign.
• Pull campaign assets such as images and copy.
• Plan and target more intelligently through data-driven insights.
• Accelerate campaign launches with tools that streamline setup and delivery.

Built with a data-first approach, the solutions leverage machine learning to surface high-impact offers. And by automating manual workflows, marketing teams can activate campaigns with minimal effort while tech teams streamline operations.

Beyond merchandising campaigns, partners are also seeking support to expand revenue streams via advertising. B2B partners can tap into Expedia Group Advertising’s Lodging Sponsored Listings solution, now in beta, to drive visibility for hotels to high-intent travelers.

Beyond expanding our supply ecosystem, we also showcased innovative new tools designed to improve the traveler journey from search to post-booking support, ensuring partners can deliver seamless experiences at every stage.

Typeahead API uses machine learning to deliver predictive search suggestions. Partners such as Tripbtoz saw an incredible 20% boost in search-to-book conversion, a 50% drop in error rates, and a 70% increase in place of interest search during beta testing.

Innovations in search lay the foundation for a great booking experience, but ensuring a seamless trip also depends on what happens after the reservation is made. In June of 2025 alone, APAC properties sent more than 650,000 post-booking messages to travelers, with 20% including key check-in details. Missing this kind of information can quickly turn what should be a seamless trip into a frustrating experience.

To help partners manage these critical touchpoints, we now offer two solutions:

• Property Message Center: A two-way messaging tool that connects properties with either your agents or travelers about a specific booking. Property Message Center now leverages AI-powered tagging and filtering to surface the most important messages for prioritization.


• Conversations API: A flexible, API-based solution currently in pilot for partners who want to build custom conversation experiences across multiple platforms with the same AI-powered tagging and filtering as Property Message Cente

Our Smart Trip AI™ tool now offers personalized planning at scale: By applying our industry expertise, travel supply, and cutting-edge technology to partner loyalty data, Smart Trip AI™ delivers a conversational AI tool that provides real-time trip recommendations. It streamlines the planning process by helping users discover, compare, and select options more efficiently.

We are also focused on embedding intelligence directly into partner tools, helping them move faster and deliver these memorable experiences for travelers.

• For Rapid API partners, AI models recommend optimal room rates, surface personalized hotel deals, and tag and translate property messages for faster communication.


• For White Label Template partners and travel agents, AI enhances cross-sell opportunities through add-on recommendations. Virtual Agent support resolves common queries instantly, Guest Review Summaries highlight what travelers love most about a property, and Property Answers respond in real time to specific traveler questions.