Booking Holdings

What Booking Holdings does

Booking Holdings is the world's largest online travel and travel-related reservation services company, operating a portfolio of consumer-facing brands that collectively processed $186.1 billion in gross travel bookings in 2025 across 220+ countries and territories. Its primary platforms are Booking.com (31M+ listings, the world's largest accommodations website), Priceline (US value-driven travel deals), Agoda (Asia-focused mobile-first platform with 6M+ properties), KAYAK (meta-search processing billions of queries across 60+ sites), and OpenTable (65,000+ restaurants filling 1.9B seats annually). The company connects travelers with hotels, alternative accommodations, flights, car rentals, restaurants, and experiences through commission-based and merchant-based marketplace models, with commission rates averaging 15-30% of booking value. Underlying technology includes proprietary AI-powered personalization, agentic AI assistants (Priceline's Penny, KAYAK's Ask AI, OpenTable's AI Concierge), and a proprietary experimentation platform running over 1,000 simultaneous A/B tests.

The business model is asset-light, generating 87% gross margins and $9.9B adjusted EBITDA in 2025 (36.9% EBITDA margin, 75% ROIC), with revenue of $22.4B in FY2025 (up 11% YoY) and $5.53B in Q1 2026 (up 16.2% YoY). Revenue streams include commission revenue, merchant model revenue (which grew 27.4% YoY in Q4 2025 to $4.25B), advertising through the newly launched BKNG Ads platform, OpenTable restaurant subscriptions, and fintech/payment services via Booking Holdings Financial Services (BHFS). Customer segments are bifurcated: consumer-side (individual and business travelers) and supplier-side (hotels, with nearly 90% being independent properties, plus airlines, restaurants, and experience providers). The company invested $2.1B in marketing in Q1 2026 (38% of revenue) and is actively transitioning from agency to merchant model to improve cash flow dynamics while expanding Connected Trip cross-sell (transactions rising over 30%) and building agentic AI capabilities across its portfolio.

Name

Booking Holdings

Legal name

Booking Holdings Inc.

Website

https://bookingholdings.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

1997

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

Booking Holdings is the world's largest online travel company, operating Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK, and OpenTable to connect billions of travelers with 31M+ accommodation listings, flights, car rentals, and restaurants across 220+ countries via commission and merchant-based marketplace models.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Online Travel Services

NAICS

Travel Agencies (56151), Travel Agencies (561510), Tour Operators (56152), Tour Operators (561520), Travel Arrangement and Reservation Services (5615)

SIC

Retail-Eating & Drinking Places (5810), Retail-Eating Places (5812)

akta.pro primary industry

Hotel & Accommodation Booking Platforms (THALAFAB)

akta.pro secondary industries

Booking Engines & Direct Web Booking (THALACAD), Restaurant/Table Reservation & Booking Engines (THALADAH), Online Booking & Reservation Platforms (B2B/B2C) (THALAMAA)

Keywords

• Online travel agency
• Hotel booking platform
• Travel marketplace
• Restaurant reservations
• Meta-search engine

Headquarters

HQ city

Norwalk

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices11 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Commission Revenue: Primary revenue stream from commissions on hotel and alternative accommodation bookings. Commissions averaging 15-30% of booking values. The company is shifting from agency to merchant model with improved cash flow dynamics.
2. Merchant Model Revenue: Merchant margins on travel inventory where company takes ownership of booking risk and fulfillment. Q4 2025 merchant model revenue grew 27.4% to $4.25 billion, representing the shift in business mix.
3. BKNG Ads - Advertising Platform: Unified advertising platform BKNG Ads allows partners to advertise across Booking.com, Priceline, and Agoda through wide-reach content, dedicated brand environments, and targeted sponsored placements. Creates new revenue stream from travel advertising.
4. Advertising Revenue: Marketing spend from OTAs represents significant revenue. Booking Holdings invested $2.1 billion in Q1 2026 (up 16% YoY, representing 38% of revenue), while the company also generates advertising revenue from supplier partnerships.
5. Restaurant Reservations (OpenTable): OpenTable, helping more than 65,000 restaurants worldwide fill 1.9 billion seats annually, generates revenue through restaurant subscription and transaction fees.
6. Fintech/Payment Services: Booking Holdings Financial Services (BHFS) provides e-money institutions enabling payment products and services across brands, supporting merchant-of-record payments infrastructure spanning over 100 payment methods and 50+ currencies.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels9 records

Marketing channels12 records

Core offering

Booking Holdings operates the world's largest portfolio of online travel and restaurant reservation platforms, connecting travelers with accommodations (31M+ listings), flights, car rentals, vacation packages, and dining reservations through brands such as Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK, and OpenTable. The company earns the majority of its revenue through commissions on bookings, supplemented by merchant model transactions, advertising through BKNG Ads, restaurant subscription/transaction fees from OpenTable, and fintech services via Booking Holdings Financial Services.

Product overview

Booking Holdings operates a multi-brand online travel platform architecture consisting of five primary consumer-facing brands: Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, KAYAK, and OpenTable. The portfolio also includes subsidiary brands (Rentalcars.com, Rocketmiles, FareHarbor, HotelsCombined, Cheapflights, momondo), a unified advertising platform (BKNG Ads), and Booking Holdings Financial Services (a regulated fintech subsidiary). The brands collectively processed $186.1 billion in gross travel bookings in 2025, with over 1.2 billion room nights booked across 220+ countries and territories. The platform connects travelers with accommodations (31M+ listings), flights, rental cars, restaurant reservations (65K+ restaurants via OpenTable), and experiences. AI-powered tools including Priceline's Penny (agentic AI assistant) and Booking.com's personalization engine are central to the Connected Trip strategy, while BKNG Ads unifies advertising across the three main OTA brands.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Booking.com: Hotels, homes, apartments and alternative accommodations booking platform with over 31 million reported listings in 220 countries and territories
• Priceline
• Agoda
• KAYAK
• OpenTable
• Priceline VIP

Products and services

• Booking.com World's largest accommodations booking platform offering 31M+ listings in 220+ countries and territories, including hotels, alternative accommodations, flights, car rentals, and vacation packages, with 370M+ verified guest reviews in 45 languages. Targets both individual leisure and business travelers globally.
• Priceline Online travel deals platform serving travelers in 116+ countries, offering Express Deals with up to 60% discounts on hotels, flights, rental cars, cruises, vacation packages, and experiences through proprietary negotiation technology. Saves travelers over $15 billion since inception, with the new agentic AI assistant Penny for end-to-end conversational booking.
• Agoda Mobile-first digital travel platform headquartered in Singapore with 6M+ hotels and holiday properties across Asia and globally, plus flights and activities. Available in 39 languages with 24/7 customer support, 7,000+ staff in 27 markets, and AI-assisted automation achieving double-digit YoY reduction in customer service costs per booking.
• KAYAK Travel search engine processing billions of queries annually across 60+ international sites in 25+ languages, helping users find flights, hotels, rental cars, and vacation packages. Includes dedicated corporate travel solution for business travelers and the Ask AI conversational feature.
• OpenTable Global restaurant technology platform serving 65,000+ restaurants worldwide and seating 1.9 billion diners annually. Provides reservations, table management, CRM, guest relationship tools, and AI Concierge answering 80% of diner questions at launch.
• BKNG Ads Unified advertising platform launched in May 2026 enabling travel suppliers and advertisers to promote offerings consistently across Booking.com, Priceline, and Agoda. Offers wide-reach content, dedicated brand environments, and targeted sponsored placements at booking moments, fueled by proprietary Booking Holdings insights.
• Booking Holdings Financial Services (BHFS) Regulated subsidiary consisting of licensed e-money institutions that enable and support Booking Holdings brands in evolving and innovating payment-related products and services. Includes cross-border payments, merchant services, and fintech solutions across 100+ payment methods and 50+ currencies.
• Rentalcars.com Global rental car booking service offering car rentals across multiple countries and suppliers, integrated with the Booking.com ecosystem as part of the Connected Trip strategy.
• Rocketmiles Hotel booking platform allowing travelers to earn airline miles on bookings, integrating frequent flyer loyalty rewards with hotel accommodations.
• FareHarbor Activity and experiences booking platform enabling tours, attractions, and activities distribution for tour operators and experience providers.
• HotelsCombined Hotel metasearch and rate comparison platform aggregating and comparing hotel rates across multiple booking sites.
• Cheapflights Flight metasearch platform comparing airfares across multiple booking sites and airlines.
• momondo Global travel metasearch platform offering flight, hotel, and car rental comparisons.

Quantifiable outcome

• Users save nearly 10 minutes per trip using Priceline's Penny AI assistant vs. calling customer support
• +4 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration2 records

AI capability8 records

Feature6 records

Scale indicators26 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Trip.com Group: Asia-headquartered OTA (formerly Ctrip) operating Trip.com, Skyscanner, and Qunar. Direct competitor in cross-border travel booking and a key comparable for Agoda's APAC positioning and Connected Trip ambitions.
• Airbnb: Operates a global alternative-accommodation marketplace that directly competes with Booking.com's 3.9M alternative accommodation listings. Comparable in scale of listings, take-rate economics, and growing overlap in traditional hotel supply.
• Expedia Group: Direct OTA competitor operating Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo, and Trivago. Most direct comparable to Booking Holdings with overlapping accommodation booking marketplace, similar commission model, and equivalent regulatory exposure as a DMA gatekeeper.
• Trivago: Hotel metasearch engine majority-owned by Expedia, but competes directly with KAYAK's meta-search business across 60+ international sites. Comparable as a price-comparison surface in the OTA value chain.

Regional players

• MakeMyTrip: India's leading online travel company (owned by Trip.com Group). Regional comparable relevant to Booking.com's stated India expansion plans and benchmarks APAC OTA economics.

Emerging players

• Hopper: AI-native travel booking app with strong fintech-led pricing and prediction capabilities. Comparable as an emerging AI-driven OTA challenging incumbent platforms on conversion and customer experience.
• Yanolja: South Korea's largest online travel platform and Booking Holdings portfolio investment. Comparable as an Asia-based OTA with vertical software solutions for hotels, relevant to Agoda's APAC footprint and Booking.com's emerging-market playbook.
• Resy: Restaurant reservation platform owned by American Express. Most direct competitor to OpenTable in U.S. restaurant tech, with comparable subscription/transaction economics and diner network dynamics.

Broad incumbents

• Hilton Worldwide: Major hotel chain actively investing in direct booking and loyalty (Hilton Honors). Comparable as a supplier that competes with OTAs for the customer relationship and as a potential AI commerce partner.
• Marriott International: Largest global hotel chain and a direct distribution counterweight. Comparable as a supplier-side incumbent pushing direct booking (Marriott Bonvoy) and as a founding partner in Google's agentic commerce alongside Booking Holdings.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/bookingholdings
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bookingholdings
• Facebookfacebook.com/bookingcom

Compliance5 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles12 records

Subsidiaries14 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A10 records

Investments8 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Booking Holdings