By Tarran Street, on May 17, 2017

Science of travel with Bill Nye

The Internet has made booking a holiday as easy as the click of a button. Right? Wrong! Finding the right trip for you is one of the most complex technology problems facing data scientists today. There are infinite possible options and billions of price changes per second.

But lucky for you, Expedia has done all the hard work, making your next holiday just one click away. As a technology company, we use complex algorithms to find the best trip for you. Best Fare Search, or BFS, is our algorithm that uses data science to suggest the 1,600 best flights for you based on price, number of stops, and convenience. We estimate that for any roundtrip search BFS can analyze approximately 19 quadrillion—yes, quadrillion—itineraries!

But the buck doesn’t stop there! We don’t just look at the data; we look at the bigger picture.

When it comes to travel, making the right connections is key to any trip. It’s a complex matching problem—how do we match you with the best trip in the quickest and easiest way possible?

Enter the Travelgraph. We know travelers want a personalized, relevant experience, so we’ve built an enormous network of nodes that we call the Travelgraph. It analyzes a ton of travel market data from the searches, purchases, and reviews across our brands. This ability to understand a traveler’s needs and offer options that are relevant to them allows us to cut through the complexity of travel. Think of it like a matchmaking site…

But like any good matchmaking service, you need a good personal profile before you can even think about a first date. Our challenge is to help travelers discover what they are looking for and deliver the experience they want. Are you a business traveler looking for a hotel with high speed Wi-Fi? Or a family after kids’ menus and playrooms? At Expedia, we’re using data to personalize and predict the type of trip you’re after.

From matchmaking to Best Fare Search, Bill Nye the Science Guy explains how we use technology to help you find the best trip ever!

How does Expedia help make travel easier for you?