Expedia: From Travel Simplicity to Workplace Complexity
Expedia Group, known globally for simplifying travel planning through its 200+ websites and 20+ brands, faced a sharp contrast internally. Employees struggled with a maze of portals and tools to find answers or request support from HR, IT, or facilities teams. While customers enjoyed one smooth interface, internal teams worked in silos.
The leadership realized that if Expedia could simplify travel for millions, it could surely simplify the work life of its 16,000+ employees spread across 70+ countries.
The Challenge: Too Many Systems, Too Little Clarity
Each internal department, HR, IT, and facilities, had its own portals, ticketing systems, and processes. Employees often had to “guess” where to go for help, leading to:
- Confusion and wasted time.
- Inconsistent experiences across regions and functions.
- Redundant tools increased operational cost and complexity.
The problem wasn’t a lack of information but a lack of one place to access it all.
The Vision: A Consumer-Grade Employee Experience
Expedia’s vision was clear: create a single, unified entry point for every employee service—simple, fast, and as intuitive as Expedia’s customer apps.
The goal was to ensure employees could:
- Search for information effortlessly.
- Request HR or IT services from one place.
- Collaborate across departments without navigating multiple tools.
This initiative became the foundation of a company-wide digital workplace transformation.
The Breakthrough: Launching the “askEG” Portal
To turn this vision into reality, Expedia built “askEG” a single, global employee experience portal powered by ServiceNow’s HR Service Delivery (HRSD) and IT Service Management (ITSM) modules.
What askEG Does
- Serves as a single gateway for every employee’s question or request.
- Combines HR, IT, facilities, and workplace support in one place.
- Enables live chat, knowledge search, and smart routing to the right team.
- Offers a consumer-like interface, ensuring employees don’t need to know which department owns a process.
Experience-First Design: Built for How Employees Actually Work
Expedia’s approach focused on design thinking; simplifying the experience to match how employees naturally navigate information.
Key Experience Principles
- One-Stop Entry: Employees only need to remember one thing—“Go to askEG.”
- Unified Branding: All internal teams dropped their department-specific branding to maintain a consistent look and feel.
- Intuitive Navigation: The portal adapts to employee behavior instead of forcing them into rigid workflows.
- Platform Thinking: IT provided ServiceNow as a shared platform, not just a departmental tool; allowing other teams to build on consistent standards.
Core Capabilities: What Powers askEG
| Capability | Description |
| Unified Knowledge Base | All HR, IT, and workplace content is centralized for quick search. |
| Omnichannel Access | Employees can use chat, tickets, and self-service from a single interface. |
| Automated Workflows | Smart routing ensures tasks reach the right team with full visibility. |
| End-to-End Employee Journey Coverage | From onboarding to offboarding, every service is covered. |
| Cross-Team Collaboration | Departments collaborate on one case rather than passing it between systems. |
Streamlining the Internal Digital Ecosystem
Before askEG, Expedia’s internal tech stack was cluttered with redundant systems. With ServiceNow, the organization:
- Retire outdated or duplicate tools.
- Centralized data and workflows under a single platform.
Introduced governance and shared design standards to ensure consistency across departments. - Improved visibility into service demand and performance.
This not only simplified the user experience but also reduced long-term IT maintenance costs.
Measurable Business Impact
While Expedia didn’t share numeric KPIs publicly, the qualitative benefits were significant:
Tangible Results
- One Unified Portal: Employees worldwide now access services via askEG—no need to remember multiple URLs or systems.
- Faster Issue Resolution: Seamless cross-team handoffs and shared visibility reduce delays.
- Lower Tooling Costs: Fewer legacy systems mean less maintenance and licensing overhead.
- Improved Employee Sentiment: Feedback described the experience as “tremendously better,” with users feeling they had more information—even though the content itself hadn’t changed, only the accessibility had.
Real-Life Scenarios Simplified by askEG
| Situation | Before askEG | After askEG |
| Badge not working | Employees unsure whether to contact Security, Facilities, or IT. | Submit one request; the system auto-routes it. |
| Relocating to another country | Multiple systems for payroll, facilities, and travel. | askEG handles all handoffs seamlessly. |
| Day-to-day tasks | Multiple logins and forms for leave, benefits, or access requests. | Single dashboard, unified workflows. |
The Technology Behind the Expedia Transformation
Core ServiceNow Solutions Used:
- HR Service Delivery (HRSD) – To digitize HR processes and case management.
- IT Service Management (ITSM) – To manage IT requests, incidents, and changes.
- Employee Portal Framework – To integrate both HR and IT experiences through a single front door.
Together, these components created a holistic platform supporting every employee touchpoint—from first day to last.
Change Management: Unifying People, Not Just Systems
A transformation of this scale required cultural alignment. Expedia focused on:
- Shared Ownership: HR, IT, and Workplace teams co-owned the employee experience.
- Consistent Standards: Unified templates and design language across departments.
- Communication & Training: Employees were guided to adopt the “one portal for all” approach.
This disciplined rollout ensured company-wide adoption and long-term sustainability.
Future Roadmap: Extending the Unified Experience
Expedia plans to extend the “askEG” model beyond HR and IT, using ServiceNow as an enterprise-wide platform. The next phase aims to:
- Enhance the developer experience for faster innovation.
- Bring additional departments, such as Finance and Legal, under the same umbrella.
- Introduce more AI-driven personalization and predictive support.
Lessons to Learn
- Design the Experience First, Tools Second – Don’t start with tech; start with how employees think and navigate.
- Simplify Relentlessly – One portal beats a dozen branded microsites.
- Think Platform, Not Product – Treat ServiceNow as an enterprise foundation, not a departmental fix.
- Focus on Handoffs – Seamless collaboration among HR, IT, and facilities delivers the biggest productivity boost.
Quick Snapshot
| Metric | Detail |
| Employees Supported | ~16,000 |
| Countries Operated | 70+ |
| Brands/Websites | 200+ |
| Unified Portal | askEG |
| Powered By | ServiceNow HRSD + ITSM |
Conclusion: From Silos to Simplicity
By partnering with ServiceNow, Expedia Group transformed its internal operations from fragmented and confusing to unified and intuitive. askEG became more than a portal. It’s now the single front door for the entire employee experience, proving that great customer experiences start with great employee experiences. If you want to write a similar success story for your own business, it’s time to implement ServiceNow within your digital ecosystem.
