AI powers Expedia’s marketing evolution

Our Executive Function series features perspectives from leaders driving transformation through AI.Expedia Group’s brands including Expedia, Hotels.com, and VRBO power travel around the world. We spoke with Jochen Koedijk about the evolving CMO role, agents supporting travel marketing, how marketers can stay ahead in an AI-driven world.

You’ve led consumer marketing across multiple industries. How have you seen the role of marketing—and the CMO—evolve over time?

What’s become clear is how much more data-driven the field has become.

Data was applied mostly to digital and performance marketing, but now, with changing consumer media habits, cord-cutting, and connected TV, we’re seeing data and insights used across the entire marketing funnel. While it still requires creativity and emotional resonance, the science behind marketing has grown tremendously.

This shift demands a more experimental mindset. New behaviors, technologies, and methods constantly emerge, so you have to stay curious and agile. Embracing failure is important because early experiments often don’t succeed. But the increasing ability to identify causality in marketing actions is also incredibly exciting.

How is AI specifically helping in your role as a CMO? What advice would you give other marketing leaders as they embrace this transformation?

I’d break it into three areas.

“Generative AI has given me a lot more scale.”

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With those shifts in behavior, do you see agents playing a role in the future of travel marketing?

Absolutely. There’s a lot of talk around agentic systems, and I see real promise. For example, if I regularly travel to New York for business, I might eventually just tell an agent, “I need to go again,” and it would handle everything based on my preferences. For leisure travel, people may still want control, but agents could provide curated options quickly.

Do you see opportunities for AI in strengthening customer relationships and loyalty?

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