Expedia lowers 2024 growth forecast on vacation rental unit drag

(Reuters) -Online travel agency Expedia cut its full-year revenue growth forecast on Thursday, as gross bookings were hit by a drag in its vacation rental platform and poor performance in its business-to-consumer segment.

Shares of the company were down about 8% after the bell.

"Given the Vrbo drag and the rate of acceleration in B2C thus far, we are lowering our full-year guidance to a range of mid- to high-single-digit top line growth, with margins relatively in line versus last year," said CEO Peter Kern.

The company was expecting a boost in profits after the migration of its Vrbo vacation rentals brand to the Expedia platform, which allows travelers to book across Expedia's brands.

However, Vrbo’s recovery after the re-platforming was slower than anticipated.

Seattle-based Expedia reported a quarterly adjusted profit of 21 cents per share, compared to analysts' estimate of a loss of 24 cents.

Total quarterly revenue was $2.89 billion, up 8% from a year earlier. Analysts, on average, were expecting revenue of $2.81 billion, according to LSEG data.

(Reporting by Aishwarya Jain; Editing by Pooja Desai)