Booking Holdings Laid Off 60 Employees at B2B Arm as It Resets Priorities
Skift Take
Key Points
- Booking Holdings laid off 60 employees at Rocket Travel by Agoda to streamline operations.
- The layoffs are part of a strategy to manage fixed expenses and improve operational efficiency.
- Rocket Travel by Agoda competes with Expedia's B2B unit, which has significantly more partners.
Summary
Booking Holdings has laid off approximately 60 employees at its B2B unit, Rocket Travel by Agoda, as part of a strategic move to streamline operations and manage fixed expenses. The company aims to improve operational efficiency and better position itself for the long term. Rocket Travel competes with Expedia Group's business-to-business unit, which boasts over 60,000 partners.
Booking Holdings has laid off around 60 employees at one of its business-to-business units, Rocket Travel by Agoda, part of the company’s recent efforts to reset its global priorities.
At least one of the impacted employees posted about the downsizing on LinkedIn, and a Booking Holdings spokesperson confirmed the layoffs.
The move is designed to streamline Rocket Travel’s operations, and some roles are being moved closer to a tech center in APAC, the spokesperson said, adding that Booking’s overall business-to-business strategy isn’t changing.
The layoffs were believed to make up around half of Rocket Travel’s U.S. workforce.
These are the first layoffs to occur following Booking Holdings’ announcement last month that it would be making organizational changes that could including firing employees. The company stated that it needed to manage the growth of its fixed expenses.
“We believe these efforts will improve operating expense efficiency, increase organizational agility, free up resources that can be reinvested into further improving our offering to both travelers and partners, and better position the Company for the long term,” Booking stated last month.
The Priceline Group (now Booking Holdings) acquired Rocketmiles in 2015, and in 2022 it rebranded as Rocket Travel by Agoda. It consolidated its own partner services with those being provided by Booking’s Agoda brand at the time.
Today, Rocket Travel by Agoda counts more than 300 partners, including American Airlines, Emirates and Sonesta, according to its website. Rocket Travel builds websites for partners under their own brands, provides hotel inventory, and has white label and affiliate solutions.
Booking Holdings has other partner businesses, including Priceline Partner Solutions.
Competing With Expedia
Expedia Group’s business-to-business unit is a key competitor of Rocket Travel by Agoda. Expedia Group has more than 60,000 partners in its business-to business unit, which in the third quarter generated $1.17 billion in revenue, or 29% of total company revenue.
Booking Holdings doesn’t break out its business-to-business financials.
Photo Credit: rocket travel by agoda
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