Expedia

Key Findings

• Settlements: Amnesty International documented nine accommodation providers advertised through Expedia.com and Hotels.com in Israeli settlements in its 2018–2019 research. The Journal Investigates separately reported settlement listings through Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo in July 2025; availability of each property in October 2026 remains unverified.^{1, 2}
• Economic: Expedia-controlled trivago completed its acquisition of Holisto on 31 July 2025. Subsequently renamed trivago DEALS Ltd., the acquired business is identified as Israeli-incorporated in trivago’s subsidiary register. No defence-sector or settlement-related activity by Holisto was established.^{3, 4, 5}
• Political: OHCHR’s September 2026 settlement-business database explicitly lists Expedia Group Inc. under activity (e), with its involvement classified as “Contribution.” This is an institutional human-rights assessment, not a criminal conviction or proof of individual bookings on particular dates.⁶
• Not found: No public evidence identified in the four audits of Expedia supplying weapons, military targeting technology, Israeli military procurement services or military-base sustainment. The documented accommodation services are civilian commercial activities; consumer military discounts do not establish an Israeli defence contract.^{7, 8}

Target Profile

Executive Summary

Expedia Group operates a global travel marketplace connecting travellers with accommodation providers and other travel suppliers. Its principal documented Israel/Palestine nexus concerns the advertising and distribution of accommodation in Israeli settlements through group booking platforms. Amnesty International’s January 2019 investigation, based on research conducted during 2018, identified nine accommodation providers across Expedia.com and Hotels.com in occupied Palestinian territory. The Journal Investigates subsequently reported settlement accommodation listings through Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo in July 2025, covering the West Bank, occupied East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights.^{1, 2, 7}

The strongest economic evidence combines settlement-facing travel distribution with a separately documented Israeli operating-company acquisition. Expedia-controlled trivago initially invested in Holisto in July 2024 and completed its acquisition in July 2025. Holisto became a wholly owned, consolidated subsidiary, subsequently renamed trivago DEALS Ltd.; its subsidiary register establishes Israeli incorporation. Its booking technology was integrated into trivago’s commercial strategy. These findings correct an earlier negative statement within the economic audit: an indirectly Expedia-controlled Israeli operating-company acquisition was established, although no defence-sector or settlement-related activity by Holisto was identified.^{3, 4, 5}

The political record centres on settlement operations, territorial descriptions, corporate responses and institutional scrutiny. OHCHR’s report dated 25 September 2026 explicitly includes Expedia Group Inc. under activity (e), concerning services and utilities supporting the maintenance and existence of settlements, including transport, and classifies its involvement as “Contribution.” Expedia’s strongest documented defence is that it operates a commercial marketplace, complies with applicable law, identifies disputed locations and applies enhanced due diligence. Its human-rights statement also commits the company to respecting internationally recognised human rights. The audits nevertheless document disputes over the consistency of geographical descriptions and identify no verified announcement of a complete settlement-booking withdrawal.^{1, 6, 12, 13, 14}

The evidence does not support a military attribution. No public evidence identified of Israeli defence procurement contracts, weapons supply, military targeting software, offensive cyber provision or military-base services. Guesty connectivity establishes commercial interoperability, without proving Expedia enterprise licensing or Israeli storage of Expedia-linked personal data. July 2025 listing observations establish post-2024 platform activity, but neither they nor database inclusion establish completed bookings on specific dates or a verified October 2026 inventory.^{2, 7, 10, 11} The fixed, human-vetted V6.6 result is BRS 768, Tier B (Severe Complicity), driven principally by the economic record and settlement-related digital and political activity.

Timeline of Relevant Events

Corporate Overview

Expedia Group is a US parent company operating an integrated travel-platform business. Its 2025 annual report describes consumer travel marketplaces, business-to-business distribution and associated services. It reported approximately 3.6 million available lodging properties at year-end 2025 and worldwide revenue of $14.733 billion; lodging accounted for 80% of revenue. These consolidated figures do not measure Israeli-market or settlement-related revenue.⁷

Disclosed subsidiaries include Expedia, Inc.; Hotels.com L.P.; HomeAway.com, Inc.; Travelscape, LLC; Interactive Affiliate Network, LLC; Expedia.com Limited; and Expedia Lodging Partner Services Sàrl. The documented settlement mechanism involves group distribution platforms and third-party accommodation providers. Listing a property does not establish Expedia ownership of the accommodation, its buildings or associated land.^{1, 2, 20}

The Israeli operating-company relationship runs through trivago N.V., a Netherlands-incorporated company controlled by Expedia. trivago’s completed Holisto acquisition brought hotel-rate aggregation, white-label booking engines and merchant-of-record activities into its consolidated business. The acquisition announcement reported 211 employees across Holisto’s Israeli headquarters and other international locations; that figure cannot be treated as an Israel-only workforce count. The subsidiary register subsequently identifies trivago DEALS Ltd. as incorporated in Israel.^{3, 4, 5}

Guesty represents a different relationship: an Israeli-origin accommodation-management technology provider with documented Expedia and Vrbo connectivity. Participating property managers select Guesty within Expedia Partner Central and connect their listings. This establishes interoperability rather than a disclosed Expedia acquisition, franchise arrangement or mandatory enterprise deployment.^{10, 11, 21}

Domain Summaries

Military: Military

Mechanism of Involvement

No public evidence identified of a qualifying Israeli military mechanism. The military audit found no Expedia contract with the Israeli Ministry of Defence, IDF, military-intelligence agencies, prison service or Border Police. It likewise identified no weapons manufacturing, munitions supply, defence-prime component relationship, military construction contract, military-base sustainment arrangement or purpose-built targeting system.

The documented business instead concerns commercial travel marketplaces and accommodation distribution. Expedia’s military-oriented offers through ID.me concern discounts on ordinary hotel bookings; they do not identify an Israeli military customer or procurement agreement.^{7, 8}

Settlement accommodation is relevant to the other domains, but the reviewed investigations describe civilian hotels, apartments and rental properties. They do not identify an Israeli military installation as the contractual customer or establish Expedia operation of barracks, military hotels or reservist transport programmes.^{1, 2}

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The strongest defence is supported by the audit’s negative findings: civilian accommodation distribution does not establish weapons support or military logistics. Neither a property’s settlement location nor a consumer military discount proves an Israeli defence contract.^{1, 2, 8}

No public evidence identified of attributable corporate or controlling-principal donations to Israeli military-support organisations, defence-industry equity transactions, military export licences or Israeli arms-embargo violations. These are findings about the reviewed public record, rather than proof that every possible private relationship has been excluded.

The fixed Military score is 0.00. Settlement-related concerns are not converted into military allegations.

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Digital: Digital

Mechanism of Involvement

The principal digital mechanism is searchable accommodation advertising and booking distribution for settlement properties. Amnesty documented Expedia.com and Hotels.com listings historically, while The Journal independently reported Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo listings in July 2025. The service connects accommodation providers with prospective travellers through platform search, availability and booking interfaces.^{1, 2}

A second documented mechanism is operational adoption of acquired Israeli-origin booking technology. trivago’s annual filing describes integration with trivago DEALS as accelerating Book & Go, enabling travellers to complete bookings within trivago rather than being redirected to third-party websites. Before consolidation, disclosed Holisto-related activity included click-through revenue and interface-development expenses. Those historical related-party figures should not be presented as continuing independent vendor payments after acquisition.³

Guesty provides a third, narrower connection. Its documentation identifies Expedia Group connectivity and explains how property managers link Expedia listings to Guesty. Guesty’s corporate history places its headquarters in Tel Aviv from 2014. This establishes Israeli-origin commercial technology interoperability; it does not establish which Guesty modules Expedia itself purchases, if any.^{10, 11, 21}

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

The documented technologies serve civilian travel discovery, accommodation management and booking. No public evidence identified of Expedia supplying Israeli surveillance systems, offensive cyber tools, military AI, weapons targeting, intelligence databases or Project Nimbus services.

Guesty’s role must remain precisely attributed. Its customers include participating property managers; the audit did not establish direct Expedia enterprise licensing, compulsory group-wide use, contract values or physical processing of Expedia-linked records in Israel. Expedia’s privacy materials describe US-based servers and international processing, without establishing an Expedia-owned Israeli data centre.^{10, 22}

Holisto’s technology was operationally integrated, but the filing does not quantify the share of bookings processed through it or establish deployment across every trivago partner. No defence or settlement use by Holisto was identified.^{3, 4}

Finally, the July 2025 investigation does not establish that every observed property remained available in October 2026. Listing availability is distinct from a completed transaction, and no property-level booking totals or commissions were established.²

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Economic: Economic

Mechanism of Involvement

Settlement-facing accommodation distribution creates a commercial relationship between platform services, property providers and travellers. Amnesty described Expedia’s commission-based booking model and argued that promotion through global travel platforms generated business for settlement tourism. Its Expedia-specific research identified nine accommodation providers, including hotels, apartments and a luxury campsite.^{1, 23}

That economic contribution remains an attributed assessment. The audits do not quantify Expedia’s settlement-related commissions, completed bookings, local employment effects, tax receipts or property revenues. Worldwide revenue cannot be used as a substitute for those missing measures.^{1, 7}

The strongest independently documented investment mechanism is the Holisto acquisition. On 30 July 2024, trivago acquired an initial 38.6% interest, equivalent to 30.0% fully diluted, for approximately €10.2 million. On 31 July 2025, it purchased the remaining outstanding equity interests for approximately €22.3 million, obtaining full ownership and consolidating the business. Holisto was subsequently renamed trivago DEALS Ltd., explicitly identified as Israeli-incorporated in the subsidiary register.^{3, 4, 5}

Expedia’s controlling equity and voting interests in trivago establish indirect corporate ownership. This finding corrects the economic audit’s earlier statement that no controlling acquisition of an Israeli-incorporated operating company had been identified. It also resolves the digital audit’s narrower incorporation caveat: Israeli headquarters are established by the acquisition filing, while Israeli incorporation is separately established by the subsidiary register.^{3, 4, 5}

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Expedia is a US-parented commercial travel group. No public evidence identified of Israeli state ownership, an Israeli golden share, sovereign-bond underwriting, direct lending to Israeli defence contractors or an attributable corporate treasury allocation to Israeli defence manufacturers.

The Holisto acquisition establishes ownership of a civilian travel-technology business. It does not establish that Holisto supports settlements, supplies defence institutions or receives Israeli state direction. Its 211 employees were distributed across Israel and other locations; the audits provide no verified Israel-only payroll or tax contribution.^{4, 5}

Historical property lists must also be distinguished from current inventory. AFSC and Who Profits describe a wider settlement-facing distribution footprint, including the Golan Heights and additional group brands, but exact current listings, overlapping suppliers and transaction values remain unverified. The Journal’s July 2025 observations provide later corroboration for named platforms without establishing completed post-November 2024 bookings.^{2, 24, 25}

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Political: Political

Mechanism of Involvement

The documented political mechanism concerns settlement-related commercial operations and their territorial presentation. Amnesty’s historical investigation found inconsistent descriptions: Expedia.com identified six of nine examined properties as Israeli settlements, while other properties were presented as being in Israel. Hotels.com’s descriptions also varied, including for East Jerusalem properties.¹

The July 2025 investigation reported comparable concerns. Expedia’s location-search interface sometimes used “Israeli Settlement, Palestinian Territories,” while individual listings did not consistently disclose settlement status; the investigation also reported presentation of the Golan Heights as part of Israel. These are attributed observations of platform presentation, not a judicial finding of deceptive labelling.²

OHCHR’s September 2026 report supplies the strongest institutional record. Annex I, entry 72, identifies Expedia Group Inc., gives its home state as the United States, assigns activity (e), and classifies its involvement in adverse impacts on Palestinian self-determination as “Contribution.” This primary record supersedes the earlier audit caveat that Expedia’s precise database classification had not been reproduced.⁶

Organised scrutiny is also documented. Ethical Consumer identifies a BDS National Committee boycott targeting Expedia, with a stated start year of 2024 and settlement accommodation advertising as its basis. A November 2025 BDS publication continued to identify Expedia in occupation-related corporate scrutiny. These records establish campaign activity, rather than independently proving every allegation made by campaigners.^{26, 27}

Counter-Arguments and Evidence Limits

Expedia’s strongest defence is its commercial-marketplace character and stated approach to legal compliance, territorial transparency and due diligence. Its historical response to Amnesty said accommodation providers could join subject to applicable law and described identifying settlement properties in Palestinian territory. September 2026 reporting described its position that relevant listings were appropriately labelled and subject to enhanced due diligence informed by UN standards.^{12, 14}

Its Human Rights Statement commits Expedia to respecting internationally recognised rights, acknowledges travel-related community risks and addresses situations where local requirements conflict with international standards. These commitments form part of the evidence record, although their existence does not resolve the documented disputes over listings.¹³

OHCHR database inclusion is an institutional human-rights assessment. It is not a criminal conviction, a comprehensive ruling on every Expedia activity or evidence of individual bookings on the July or November 2024 milestone dates.⁶

No public evidence identified of Expedia-directed Israel-specific lobbying, anti-BDS instructions, military donations, settlement-event sponsorship, punishment of employees for pro-Palestinian expression or algorithmic suppression of Palestinian speech. Expedia’s Russia suspension provides a documented comparison, but the absence of a comparable retrieved settlement-withdrawal announcement does not establish that no other relevant communication ever existed.¹⁶

Named Entities and Evidence Map

Complicity Index Score

Method: V6.6 - final human-vetted scores.

• V_MAX: 8.30 Avg_OTHERS: 4.60
• BRS Score: 768 Tier: B (Severe Complicity)

Economic supplies the maximum score, supported by documented settlement-facing commercial distribution and the completed acquisition of an Israeli operating technology business through controlled subsidiary trivago.^{1, 3, 4, 5} Settlement-facing digital services and the political record of territorial presentation and OHCHR assessment support the other non-zero domains, while the military domain remains zero.^{1, 2, 6} These fixed values use the scale-free, evidence-only, human-vetted V6.6 method; the tier is a corpus classification, not a judicial determination.

Methodology Note

• Evidence boundary: This dossier compiles the four supplied domain audits. Their corrections take precedence over superseded negative findings or incomplete citations; no independent allegations have been added.
• Scoring dimensions: Impact (I) is scale-free and concerns activity type; Magnitude (M) concerns scale; Proximity (P) concerns directness. The supplied final values are preserved.
• Temporal treatment: Historical evidence remains dated. Divested or exited operations are mitigated where established; unknown termination dates do not prove either continuing operation or withdrawal. Listings, completed bookings and institutional database inclusion remain distinct.
• Entity attribution: Acts are attributed to the documented company, controlled subsidiary, platform or counterparty. Shareholder portfolios, personal affiliations and technology vendors do not create transitive corporate responsibility.
• Settlement treatment: Documented settlement operations may count in both Economic and Political. Digital distribution is separately described without turning civilian tourism services into military supply.
• Negative findings: “No public evidence identified” records an unsuccessful check within the audits’ scope. Unverified inventory, transaction values, data residency and other unresolved matters retain those limitations.