Will AI Disrupt Booking and Other OTAs? One Analyst Says They’re ‘Well-Positioned’
Photo Credit: An iPhone screen with multiple artificial intelligence apps. Adobe Stock / Robert
Skift Take
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.
BTIG financial analyst Jake Fuller sees ChatGPT's recent integration of a Booking.com app as a "positive" development, and downplays the very real possibility that the large language models will crush the online travel agencies.
"Our view has been that OTAs like BKNG are well-positioned as AI partners given decades of behavioral data, electronic connectivity with millions of accommodations and a vast payments network," Fuller, who has a "buy" rating on Booking Holdings, told Skift Monday.
Fuller isn't buying the worst-case fears: In that scenario, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude sell travel themselves, or
