Booking Holdings

OTAs are posting record revenues, and the top four still dominate. But they face a major shift if AI platforms bypass them altogether.

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's CFO thinks artificial intelligence can put his company on the offensive rather than the defensive. The odds are long but based on past performance you can't count them out.

Booking.com wants to engineer a future where payments unlock the full travel journey. As AI and agentic systems loom, it is making the case that the its future lies in easing friction, striving to be hyper-local, with fintech as a foundation.

Saving a basis point or two per transaction in Booking.com's payments business can turn into a windfall of millions of dollars. That's an edge that Booking.com is leveraging in payments, which are also central to its connected trip strategy.

Google has been downplaying free organic links for many years. In the past year, its AI Overviews and other ad formats have basically forced travel companies to spend more for traffic. Kayak isn't the only player feeling the squeeze.

Booking Holdings had a strong third quarter. CEO Glenn Fogel acknowledged these are early days for the artificial intelligence boom.

Booking Holdings and the other online travel agencies have survived through several platform shifts in the past. However, the gen AI revolution finds them in slower growth mode than in past era, upping the pressure.

Capital One Travel landed an experienced travel B2B exec in Sarah Kaplan Moore, who hails from the online travel agency side of the ledger. Capital One's Discover acquisition potentially provides it with ammunition to better compete against leaders Chase Travel and American Express Travel.

The fragmented landscape of hotel sustainability data has long hindered both consumers and operators. By centralizing disclosures, Travalyst and its partners could make environmental transparency a baseline expectation, and redefine how travelers choose where to stay.