‘Business travel is back’ true to my pandemic prediction

Expedia CEO Peter Kern told CNBC on Monday business travelers have returned. During the dark times of the Covid pandemic in late 2020, he predicted they would make a comeback and that day has come.

“You’re here in Seattle. And I’m traveling all the time. So, I think business travel is back. I said from the beginning business travel would come back. We’re seeing it all over,” Kern said, speaking with Jim Cramer, who was in Expedia’s home city for “Mad Money.”

Fast forward to today and it has, Kern said. “People are traveling like crazy. If you’ve been in an airport you know that. Everyone is complaining about it. They’re too crowded, not enough staff.”

Last year, Expedia agreed to sell its corporate travel arm to American Express Global Business Travel. As part of the deal, Expedia became a shareholder in Amex GBT and struck a long-term strategic partnership.

Kern’s company also operates its namesake Expedia service as well as others in the travel sector including Hotels.com, Hotwire, Travelocity and Orbitz. The company is also behind Vrbo, short for vacation rentals by owner. It competes against Airbnb.

With all those brands under one roof, Kern and Expedia certainly have their fingers on the pulse of the travel industry. The CEO said travel has been booming. “There’s no question all summer and still has been strong into September. There doesn’t appear to be much let up,” he said.