Bureaucracy leading to missed opportunities - Senior Manager Expedia Group Employee Review

3.0
Sep 5, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

The company does a good job of recruiting bright people (70-80% are top notch. The rest can be quite poor, but this is due to the working model. Smart people decide, "tools" execute). Relative to most employers they treat employees quite well, though they don't stack up as well against top-tier technology companies. Offices in Bellevue and London are top notch. Very pleasant physical workplaces.

Cons

-Promotions seem tilted towards ex-consultant heavy strategy groups. -Entire teams made for "strategy" made up of ex-consultants that don't actually add much to the business. The operating model seems to be to reduce the highly skilled, highly educated other functions to be their tools. -Bureaucracy runs rampant. Simple things take days and this prevents valuable, value-added work from being done. -Enough already with the powerpoint and long-term plans. These sound good on paper but have become nothing more than an echo chamber and an excuse to keep loads of people in meeting rooms for hours each day. Pick a strategy, execute on it. There's no need to make such detailed plans when you are just guessing

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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
Jun 25, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Good pay, supportive manager, and genuinely pleasant colleagues.

Cons

Frequent reorgs and shifting strategic direction made it difficult to build momentum or plan long‑term. Over time, contractor roles became increasingly narrow and production‑focused, which limited opportunities for meaningful skill development. Responsibilities that originally included project management were reduced to primarily email production work. There’s also a broader corporate pattern where work is expected to be completed exactly as written, with little room for judgment or improvement. Even small, quick optimizations can lead to pushback rather than appreciation, creating an environment where going “above and beyond” requires multiple layers of approval — which defeats the purpose of being proactive in the first place. Finally, there’s an in‑office expectation (less strict than for full‑time employees, but still present) for work that can be done entirely remotely. This tends to benefit highly social personalities, but for those who prefer focused, independent work, it feels unnecessary. Social dynamics also play a noticeable role; if you’re not immediately well‑liked or you make a single early mistake, it can create a self‑fulfilling perception that’s difficult to overcome.

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