Booking Holdings

In the face of the LLM threat, Booking Holdings thinks it can repeatedly grow its top line 8% annually over the "medium term" and earnings per share 15% over the same timespan.

Expedia has been downsizing its workforce over the last year, and plowing some of the savings into machine learning and AI. It's a playbook that's taking place across industries.

Booking Holdings sees AI as the future of travel. Its Kayak brand's marketing doesn't touch on AI, but is trying to convince Millennials it's OK to book on smartphones and to use Kayak to navigate social media distractions.

Booking Holdings could survive hotel chains switching allegiances to the LLMs. But how long would it take for independent hotels to likewise jump ship?

We sometimes think of independent hotels as relatively powerless given the strength of the OTAs and the big hotel chains. Will agentic AI turn the tables?

Don't expect Hafner to stick around for an extended period in the new executive chair role.

Travel industry employees, whether they work for Agoda or somewhere else, need to adapt to AI workflows. If they don't they'll be obsolete and looking for new jobs.

There's no doubt that an independent and privately held Kayak, freed from the broader considerations of Booking Holdings, could have benefited from focused investment and attention.

We’d like to know how closely you paid attention to news being made by online travel booking sites over the last year.

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