Booking CFO: The AI Threat Isn’t ‘Really a Risk at All’

Key Points

• Booking Holdings CFO Ewout Steenbergen downplays the threat of large language models to the company's direct traffic and business model.
• Booking is developing its own advanced agentic AI tools to compete with horizontal AI platforms and retain customer engagement.
• Steenbergen highlights the complexity of fulfillment, customer service, and regulatory compliance as barriers for AI platforms to fully replace OTAs.

Summary

Booking Holdings CFO Ewout Steenbergen stated that the perceived threat from large language models (LLMs) to the company's online travel agency model is minimal, as AI-driven traffic remains small and stable. Instead, Booking is focusing on developing its own advanced agentic AI tools across its brands to enhance the customer experience and maintain direct traffic. Steenbergen emphasized that the complexity of travel fulfillment, customer service, and regulatory requirements presents significant challenges for LLMs to disintermediate established OTAs.