Great HR, very poor engineering management an product vision - Principal Software Engineer Expedia Group Employee Review

3.0
Apr 8, 2019
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Expedia is a great company to work for from the point of view of everything HR: benefits, vacation, quality of life, etc.

Cons

- No growth unless you are part of the inner circle. It's a well-known fact inside the company that a few individuals have benefited greatly from being part of a tightly knit group within which fast track to promotion is guaranteed, regardless of merit. - As a corollary to the above, independent-minded yet highly capable individuals will be kept at bay from any career progression. This is an untold rule that everyone is aware of, and such individuals, therefore, tend to leave. - The company is currently struggling to keep its place in the highly competitive online travel market and not able to think creatively. Management is risk-averse and will not commit to daring initiatives that would be necessary if Expedia were to become the market leader once again. - More specifically, as per the previous point: for senior directors and above, the key to survival is to not commit publicly to ambitious initiatives and rather let subordinates make the first step. These managers take credit if an initiative pans out, and distribute the blame if it doesn't. - The move to Bellevue will place the company in a difficult position, as most employees live on the East Side and are quite unhappy about the situation. The "top talent" that management hopes to attract once in Seattle will become disillusioned once realizing the type of management it is confronted with.

Explore other reviews about Expedia Group

5.0
Jun 8, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good leadership and culture, good WLB

Cons

Large organization means structured, slow moving processes

2.0
Mar 29, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Constant state of transformation is ripe environment for new hires and functional experts from big name tech companies

Cons

Pre-covid the culture was really special. Collaborative, engaging, people-centric, with a unifying mission to enable travel for the world. Since covid there has been a revolving door of executive leadership, and with each round, they throw out the current strategy to try something "new" without building from the current or past successes. Constant change, but no clear vision or strategy of what they are trying to change to. Lack of strategy and low risk tolerance leads to too many priorities with not enough investment to move the needle in anything. Quarterly layoffs, but executed quietly team by team so as not to make news. No psychological safety. Talent strategy since covid is to hire externally over internal promotions to gain "functional expertise" therefore difficult to grow your career. Siloed divisions not working towards common goal. Lacks operating model maturity needed for a company of this size likely do to revolving door of execs and priorities. A cash cow company with an identity crisis trying to be an AI innovator. Build vs buy mentality slows them down. Too many exec pet projects that aren't vetted with proper business cases.

4
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