Booking Holdings

Tour operators need to curate new itineraries to attract an incredibly important group of travelers who crave exploration and meaningful connections.

From Accor’s ambitious expansion to Airbnb’s comeback, we covered the latest news and insights in the travel industry, with a special focus on hotel technology and facial recognition.

The regime under CEO Matt Goldberg is testing a bunch of stuff, including Tripadvisor Instant Book, and a new form of the previous subscription plan, Tripadvisor Plus. The idea is to not throw out the baby with the bath water, and to see what works now.

Today's edition of Skift's daily podcast looks closer at tourism marketing in top U.S. cities, Amazon's AI customer service tools, and Booking.com's new AI trip planner.

The tit-for-tat in generative AI one-upmanship has begun with both Booking.com and Expedia having ChatGPT apps. This will go on for many years.

Booking Holdings spent approximately $6 billion on marketing in 2022, which accounted for about 35% of its total revenue, while Expedia Group’s marketing spend was around 47% of its revenue.

Travel bargain hunters are a fickle bunch, visiting more than two dozen websites on average before they book. Booking.com and its rivals spend billions annually to woo those travelers who wouldn't otherwise click over to their platforms.

Sometimes a lawsuit can serve as a proverbial big stick.

Google faces a tougher hill to climb than Booking, although the European Commission's statement of objections puts Booking's Etraveli acquisition in doubt.

In some ways, Expedia Group's potential narrowing of the take rate gap with Booking Holdings has a lot to do with Booking's strategic decisions — pushing more into the U.S. and expanding its lower-margin flights business.