Travel hospitality

OTA Partners With Local Guides to Offer Authentic Community Experiences

Expedia Group Expands “Local Guides” Program, Pairing Verified Hosts With OTA Tech to Deliver Community-Run Experiences

Seattle, December 2, 2025 — Expedia Group today announced a global expansion of its Local Guides initiative, a partnership model that embeds vetted neighborhood hosts directly inside flagship OTAs Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo. Starting in March 2026, travelers can book more than 12,000 community-designed experiences—ranging from night-market food walks in Taipei to reef-restoration dives in Jamaica—without leaving the platforms they already use for flights and lodging.

The move arrives as “authenticity” becomes a purchase trigger. According to a 2025 Adventure Travel Trade Association survey of 4,800 international travelers, 71 % said “immersion in everyday local life” is now the top factor when choosing a destination, surpassing price for the first time in the survey’s 15-year history. Analysts at Grand View Research estimate the experiential segment booked through OTAs will grow 14 % CAGR through 2030, twice the rate of hotel-only reservations.

“Travelers are voting with their wallets for human connection,” said Arielle Fitzgerald, Expedia Group’s VP of Product, Experiences. “By pairing our AI-driven discovery engine with guides who already have neighborhood trust, we solve the two biggest pain points—finding real culture and ensuring the money stays local.”

Under the new terms, Local Guides—who must complete destination-specific training co-written by tourism boards and the nonprofit Planeterra—keep 80 % of the retail price, a 20-point improvement over legacy OTA commission splits. Hosts also receive liability coverage, instant-language translation earbuds, and calendar integration that protects against over-tourism in sensitive sites. In return, Expedia gains exclusive inventory it can dynamically bundle with flights or vacation rentals, increasing average basket value 18 % in pilot markets, the company said.

Beta data from Costa Rica, where 400 guides ran 1,800 tours during the past 12 months, show the median host earned USD 4,900—triple the national tourism wage—and 63 % of guests extended their stay by at least one night. The program further aligns with emerging policy: the UNWTO’s newly ratified Community-Based Tourism Framework urges platforms to “verify local ownership and transparent revenue sharing,” benchmarks Expedia claims the Local Guides contract already meets.

“We’re not adding another tab for ‘activities,’” Fitzgerald noted. “We’re rebuilding the checkout path so the fisherman who takes you crab trapping at dawn is the same profile you review, tip, and re-book next year—just like you would a hotel.”

The expansion will debut in 80 medium-volume cities across Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Eastern Europe, regions identified by the company’s sustainable-travel AI as having high host density but low third-party excursion penetration. Each destination will cap daily visitor numbers based on carrying-capacity models supplied by the NGO Sustainable Travel International, data that will be publicly accessible through an embeddable widget for destination marketers.

About Expedia Group

Expedia Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) powers travel for everyone, everywhere through our global platform. Driven by the core belief that travel is a force for good, we help more than 160 million travelers each year find, plan, and book flights, hotels, vacation rentals, rail, cruises, car rentals, and now community-run experiences in 70+ countries.