Stockholders' Equity (Narrative) (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended					12 Months Ended			1 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended
	Dec. 31, 2011	Dec. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2009	Oct. 31, 2010	Dec. 31, 2006	Dec. 31, 2011 Q1 2012 [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 eLong [Member]	May 31, 2011 eLong [Member]	May 31, 2011 Tencent Holdings [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Common Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Common Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Class B Common Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Class B Common Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Preferred Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Series A Preferred Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Reverse Split Adjusted Basis [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Reverse Split Adjusted Basis [Member]	Dec. 31, 2011 Treasury Stock [Member]	Dec. 31, 2010 Treasury Stock [Member]
Class of Stock [Line Items]
Common stock par value, pre split	$ 0.001
Common stock par value, post split	$ 0.0001
Common stock, shares authorized										1,600,000,000	1,600,000,000	400,000,000	400,000,000
Common stock, par value										$ 0.0001	$ 0.0001	$ 0.0001	$ 0.0001
Preferred stock, par value														$ 22.23	$ 22.23
Total number of directors elected by holders of common stock, voting as single class, percentage	25.00%
Preferred stock dividend, percentage		1.99%
Number of voting rights to each shareholder, per share										1		10		2
Preferred stock merger cash payment															$ 17,000
Dividends declaration date						Feb. 09, 2012
Dividends record date						Mar. 12, 2012
Authorized share repurchase				20,000,000	20,000,000
Stock repurchased, value	282,873,000	489,254,000																282,873,000	489,254,000
Stock repurchased, shares	10,600,000	20,600,000																5,314,000	10,308,101
Average repurchase price per share	$ 26.60	$ 23.71														$ 53.20	$ 47.42
Remaining authorized share repurchase	8,800,000
Dividends per share						$ 0.09
Comprehensive income attributable to Expedia, Inc.	463,747,000	409,318,000	318,907,000
Additional ownership interest purchased, percent									16.00%
Ownership interest, purchase price									84,000,000
Additional ownership interest purchased, price							93,000,000	41,000,000
Ownership interest			60.00%				67.00%
Acquired additional interest of majority owned subsidiaries	$ 22,000,000	$ 78,000,000