Famous vs. Indispensable: The Choice AI Is Forcing on OTAs
Skift Take
Expedia and Booking are trying to be both the storefront and the supply chain. AI is squeezing the middle, and “doing both” starts to look less like diversification and more like diluted power.
Booking Holdings and Expedia are ending 2025 in the throes of an identity problem. Beyond the headlines, they are trying to be two businesses at once:
The consumer brand that “owns the traveler,” and The behind-the-scenes platform that powers everybody else’s travel.We at Skift have been writing about these two tracks for many years now. In a pre-AI world, the split sounded like smart diversification. In an AI world where the interface layer is up for grabs, it turns into a tension you can’t keep duct-taping with org charts and optimism.
Because AI forces a brutal executive question and maybe a choice: Do you want to be the destination travelers visit…or the invisible infrastructure banks, airlines, retailers, and agents call when travel needs to happen for their customers?
Don’t dismiss this as just an OTA-level soap opera. Travel is where the world’s biggest consumer and tech trends collide first, at scale: Everything affects t
