Booking Holdings

Even with the cut in total compensation, as well as in "compensation actually paid," we expect Fogel to be in the upper ranks of travel industry CEO compensation when the remaining companies report 2025 pay.

When Marriott’s job listings are more technically specific than some OTAs, the old assumptions about who leads in travel tech are up for grabs in an AI-flattened landscape.

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.

Air India has a long history of financial troubles, and it is now taking an up front approach to discussing problems and its plans to tackle them.

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.