Expedia Reviews

Pros

Marquee name in tech
Challenging problems to solve - performance, scale
Appropriate staffing levels - tech side has QA, Ops, PM teams
Stability - some say business is counter-cyclical and does well in downturns

Cons

Limited growth - mature company with majority market share in most businesses
Mediocre compensation
Limited technology tools investment
Sees itself as more retail than tech company

Advice to Senior Management

Technology is the sole differentiator between Expedia and all of its competitors...that is the side of the house you should be feeding most aggressively.

Pros

Great company culture. Really fun place to work, great benefits, and a great work - life balance. All working towards a common goal.

Cons

Career path layout is non-existent. Training is also difficult. New employees are sink or swim and rely heavily on colleagues.

Advice to Senior Management

Offer career pathing, mentors, and training for your employees.

Pros

Lots of projects, interesting people, nice building

Cons

No Pay raises for the last three years, hard to advance, managers don't care about you, VERY stressful environment, Managers drive you into the dirt and don't care, I've been here 4 years and never had a weeks vacation, if you go on vacation you are expected to carry a phone becuse you are on call. They allow changes to the environment without lab testing. Managers are not trained and treat employees badly. Stay away, this place will burn you down with stress and no one cares. Expedia is under staffed and those who are here work themselves to death.

Advice to Senior Management

Learn how to be managers and stand up for your people. You wouldn't have such a turn over of employees if you just treated them right.

Pros

The commission was good, paychecks were always nice.

Cons

Management
Balance of work/ life not at all impressed
Call routing is rigged, tenured reps get the best calls

Advice to Senior Management

This company over all is a scam. Just book hotels direct through, leave out the middle man.

Pros

The location in downtown Bellevue is good, convenient bus access, but the thing that gets you coming into work is the people. There is a lot of excellent people that are there, who care, have a strong work ethic and go the extra mile to help you out. Some teams/groups have good leadership who care.

Cons

Work life balance, recognition, job growth, training and mid level management are all serious cons. Many groups expect long hours and end up being in an on-call all the time. If you get tired of 7 day weeks and consistent 60-90+ hour weeks and say something you it is remembered when review time comes. When you kill yourself for them you are asked to do it every day, with no "good job" or "thanks." Every year I was at Expedia, there was always a lot of training budget and folks said "no one takes training...take some training" but when you signed up for it or requested it it was denied or cancelled by your boss. People routinely get stepped on by those trying to climb the ladder. I watched a lot of really good people leave or get laid off and those who stayed had to pick up the slack. Management takes credit for things that they didn't do. One manager will get the highest rating, while his whole team gets low reviews. Reorgs every 6 months.

Advice to Senior Management

Stop the reorgs. Work on moral. Treat people fairly. Look at people's time cards...they are filling them out for a reason and then help the teams/people who are consistently at the top of the # of hours.

Pros

The people who actually do the work are smart and talented.
The company has a really good product.

Cons

Management at Egencia is unsupportive; very inexperienced leadership; will claim all the glory for your work.
Management at Egencia expects employees to do the work w/ no questions asked. If you have an thought, idea or opinion, this is not the place to express it.
Inefficient processes and business practices, leading to so many inconsistencies.

Advice to Senior Management

Fill the leadership roles with process-driven people who understand the human condition and actually know how to manage/support/motivate their teams. Hire managers who have the ability to question and challenge initiatives to ensure the right things are being addressed.

Pros

Flex time
Travel benefits
Nice employees
Green company
Standard health plan
Standard 401k contibution
Fitness reimbursement program

Cons

Reactive company
No PMO
Lack of direction from senior leadership
Quartely re-organizations
Low employee morale
No standard process and procedures for project managers
Poor communication between IT and Business

Advice to Senior Management

Senior management need to set the tone and take the lead
Proactive instead of reactive
IT leadeship needs to make an effort to understand what business need

Pros

Strong brand and high level people and task

Cons

Hard to get promotion for valuable people. No career plans and development support.

Advice to Senior Management

Proud of working for Expedia it will beinteresting to get career perspective or professional development project to get more motivated.

Pros

High performing employees are rewarded at Expedia, and are given opportunities to learn new things and advance.

Cons

Heavy work load at times

Advice to Senior Management

Be aware of how much work your employees have on their plate. Good work is often rewarded with more work instead of simple recognition or acknowledgement.

Pros

Benefits; Creative People, Flexibility, Professional and personal growth

Cons

People promoted too quickly into management; lack of internal talent recognition; politics

Advice to Senior Management

Develop people, leadership and vision in managers; recognizing internal talent