Indian OTAs are done competing purely on price. The new game is about how much of your travel life they can absorb before you think to look elsewhere. Partnerships and AI are the tools. The real prize? Travelers’ attention.
In addition to other Booking Holdings' brands, Seat Geek is listed as a partner. Users would presumably be able to use conversational AI to get "insider access" and discounted rates from Booking brands and partners.
You can be sure that Agoda is far ahead of 95% of the travel industry in reimagining its business using multiple AI agents from the ground up. But will it be enough if some of the LLMs crack travel booking?
Booking's larger exposure to the impact from the Iran war than Expedia's comes from a position of strength. Booking has a much larger presence than Expedia in Asia and the Middle East, and inflation will smack Booking's European base much harder.
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.
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.
Akasa Air's decision to include Apple Pay points to a larger picture, one where ease of payments is the differentiating point amid an increasingly competitive ecosystem around organized bookings.