Do you want to open a world of opportunities for your career? Then come and make a positive impact, strengthen connections, and bridge divides across the world, at Expedia Group. You can help us bring people together through travel technology, while jump-starting your career in Commercial Account Management.

In this role, employees manage Expedia Group’s business-to-business (B2B) relationships – ranging from large airlines, hotels, vacation rentals, cruises, car rentals, financial institutions, travel agents and more – which connect partners with all that EG offers in pursuit of their goals. 

But what does this all mean? Our latest cohort of Interns and Graduates met with us to explain what their experience in a Commercial role at Expedia Group has been like.

---

Erin Krull, Commercial Graduate in Austin (previously a Summer Intern)

Tell us about your teams

Summer Internship

I was part of the Partner Success team in Austin, Texas. However, this was a very large team, so there were three smaller teams that made up Partner Success floor at the Austin office. Thus, there was the Property Owner (PO) team, Platform Property Management (PPM) team, and Integrated Property Management team. Each one of the smaller teams included their own Account Managers, Senior Account Managers, Area Managers, and so on. 

Graduate Role

I am so grateful I was able to rejoin the Vrbo Partner Success team in Austin, Texas for my new grad position. Since my internship, the Partner Success team has changed its different team names. Furthermore, Vrbo’s Partner Success is divided into 4 different teams; there is the Small-Medium-Business, Mid-Market, Enterprise, and Acquisition team. I am part of the Small-Medium-Business team.  

Tell us about your roles?

Summer Internship

I was lucky enough to work with each of the three smaller teams on the Partner Success floor. However, in particular, I worked a lot with the PO team. So, as an Account Manager Intern (commercial sales intern in Austin, TX), I was given a list of accounts that I got to manage. I was in charge of optimizing property owner accounts by speaking with them over the phone, on zoom, via email, etc. Additionally, I was given a project halfway through the internship to work on with my fellow coworker interns. Our project was to make the integration from PPM to IPM smoother for partners and our internal teams. 

Graduate Role

Since starting my New Grad program back in August, I have worked with a lot of familiar faces and am doing similar tasks. Hence, my position as a New Grad is in Account Management. Furthermore, I have a portfolio with 1,700 accounts that I talk to on the daily basis via phone, zoom, and email. The goal is to optimize as many listings as possible to make the partner more successful on the Vrbo platform. 

What skillsets do you think are required to be successful in your role?

Summer Internship

To be successful, you need to have a welcoming and open personality. You will be on the phone, in meetings, and networking throughout the day, so it is important that you are a great communicator and have customer service/hospitality experience. Additionally, you will be using Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint on a daily basis, so having these skills in your toolbox will be very helpful as well. 

Graduate Role

In order to be successful in Account Management, you need to have an outgoing personality and enjoy pitching product. Moreover, over 80% of your day will be spent on the phone, in zoom meetings, or presenting, so it is important to be an excellent communicator and enjoy talking. Additionally, it would be helpful if you also enjoy working in the hospitality industry because you will be needing some of those skills and knowledge as well. However, the most important skills to have are flexibility and adaptability. The industry and traveler trends are forever changing so it’s important to be flexible.  

What technologies/tools do you work with?

On a daily basis, we work with Microsoft Office Suite, Salesforce, Slack, Zoom, Workday, and Tableau.

What’s your favorite thing about working at Expedia Group?

Summer Internship

When I tell you I love this company, and that I have had a wonderful experience since interning here, I mean it. Everyone is so open and welcoming and wants to hear what you have to say. They are not annoyed with silly questions or act like you are inferior because you are an intern. Additionally, I have loved that the Early Careers Team encouraged fun by having intern socials and my own Partner Success Team encouraged networking by having what seemed like bi-weekly office socials. Therefore, my favorite thing about working at Expedia Group is the office culture. 

Graduate Role

Since starting back as a New Grad, I have reexperienced the wonderful atmosphere Expedia Group offers. Everyone is so welcoming and open to questions. Additionally, in my experience, even your boss’, boss’, boss wants to hear what you have to say and welcomes feedback. This is rare to find in a corporate setting and I am very appreciative of the inclusivity here. Thus, my favorite thing about working at Expedia Group is still the office culture. 

---

Aishwarya Kulwal, Commercial Graduate in London (previously a Summer Intern)

Tell us about your team

The team I work in belongs to the Lodging Account Management family – it is called CHAMP (Centralised Hub for Account Management Performance). Our primary focus is managing relationships between Expedia Group and small and medium-sized properties. The team’s main tasks involve engaging in consultative conversations with relevant hotel partners to identify personalised, data-driven solutions aimed at generating more bookings through Expedia. 

Tell us about your role

Our day is structured with 80% dedicated to proactive outreach and 20% to handling reactive cases. Proactive outreaches entail actively calling partners to understand how their hotel is performing and their particular business needs. We leverage insights from these conversations to recommend personalised solutions to how they can enhance their Expedia listing using our various products and tools. Reactive cases involve addressing partner requests which they contact Expedia for. 

What skill sets do you think are required to be successful in your role?

Communication skills are essential; we talk to hotel partners for the majority of our day and it is important to be able to relay information in a concise and persuasive manner whilst efficiently navigating the conversation. Negotiation skills can also be useful as there are often times we receive pushback from partners regarding the products we are pitching so you need to be able to handle and overcome them. Time management is also required to ensure we are effective with our time so that we can maximise our impact on the team by calling as many partners as possible. 

What technologies/ tools do you work with?

Our work heavily involves Salesforce for both proactive and reactive tasks. Salesforce serves as the database for all our properties, with a tool within it seeking properties which have not been contacted recently with high-value opportunities. These properties are then pushed to us through the tool and we are shown what the most relevant personalised opportunities are for the property. Expedia Partner Central, Expedia’s extranet, is used to analyse properties and gain a comprehensive understanding before initiating contact. We were given extensive training on how to utilise both these softwares at the beginning of the graduate program. 

What is your favourite thing about working at Expedia Group?

It has got to be how supportive the culture is and how many opportunities there are to grow your career. Most of the graduates were assigned to mentors across different parts of the business, which allows us to gain a better understanding of the organisation as a whole. Even beyond the relationships with our mentors, we are encouraged to network across the business and everyone has been really receptive to giving us a greater insight into their role. We also have the opportunity to apply for project gigs, which are projects we can dedicated 1-8 hours of our week to across different teams in the business. It really is a great environment to grow both personally and professionally in! 

---

Jemma Green, Commercial Intern in London

Tell us about your teams

During the internship I have had the opportunity to work within two different teams which has provided a range of experiences and the chance to work with so many great people. During the first half of the internship, my team was the London and UK- South Lodging Account Management team, where I have worked closely with account managers of London Hotels and focused on developing partner relations. The second team I am working within is the PGA team (Partner Growth and Agility) which is a team that focuses on connecting partners to Expedia groups products and tools to help them grow.

Tell us about your role

My role involves managing a portfolio of partners, building rapport and identifying their needs to pitch relevant Expedia Group products and solutions. To do this effectively, I structure my days with networking meetings, shadowing and lab sessions with account managers. It is an invaluable experience to learn so much from so many people and then implement this into my own approach.

What are you focusing on for your summer project?

The focus of my project is package optimization in high demand submarkets. This involves lots of data analysis and experimenting with different methods of communicating the value of package optimization to partners. I look forward to presenting the outcomes of this project to my team and enjoy working on something meaningful that will really make a difference.

What skillsets do you think are required to be successful in your role?

Communication skills, time management and organization are such important skills to have in this role as this will ensure that, as well as completing any portfolio/project tasks and working with partners effectively, you will be able to connect with and learn from as many people around the business as you can. Planning lots of successful interactions will be the best way to expand your knowledge and further grow your skillset.

What technologies/tools do you work with?

Slack is used daily to easily communicate within teams and connect with people across the company. Salesforce and Expedia Partner Central are used to understand partners current situations and communicate any opportunities.

What’s your favorite thing about working at Expedia Group?

My favorite thing about working at Expedia Group is that people care and will always take the time to help wherever they can. This means that there are so many opportunities to learn and experience new things, for example, being part of market meetings at amazing hotels and watching how market managers build relationships with partners. Furthermore, the intern program as a whole is so supportive, and the intern socials are a great way to catch up with other interns, share progress and have fun!

---

Join our Emerging Talent & Careers NetworkWe’re looking for outstanding talent to join us on our mission to power global travel for everyone, everywhere. By joining our career network, you’ll have exclusive access to our latest opportunities, events, interview advice, and global insights from our Expedia Group leaders. Sign up now!