Expedia

$119B in 2025 gross bookings under CEO Ariane Gorin anchors Expedia’s recent shift toward AI readiness and distribution partnerships.

Who they are

Expedia is the world’s second-largest travel booking company, appearing in coverage as a consumer travel platform whose reach spans hotel and experience bookings, its Vrbo brand, and partnerships with larger consumer platforms. Its leadership history also links it to Uber: former Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi left to run Uber, while Ariane Gorin became Expedia’s CEO in 2024.

The recent arc

The current coverage cycle centers on expansion and adaptation rather than the leadership drama that drove Expedia’s all-time coverage peak in 2017, when Dara Khosrowshahi’s move to Uber dominated headlines. Recent reporting accelerated in 2026Q2 with Uber’s US hotel-booking integration, which is set to add Vrbo later in 2026, and TikTok GO’s US launch, where Expedia and Booking.com enable in-app bookings for hotels, attractions, and experiences.

Under Gorin, Bloomberg reported back-to-back years of revenue growth and record 2025 gross bookings of $119B. But the latest Financial Times interview frames AI as both a growth opportunity and a potential disruptor; that concern also surfaced in reporting on Expedia, Booking.com, and Airbnb preparing for AI agents, as well as OpenAI’s ChatGPT Apps ecosystem.

The tension

Coverage circles a distribution-control problem: Expedia is partnering with Uber, TikTok, and OpenAI-linked app ecosystems to meet travelers where they already spend time, while those same interfaces and AI agents could weaken the direct booking relationship. The competitive set is explicit—Booking.com is both a TikTok GO partner and a fellow AI-agent contender, while Airbnb remains part of the broader online-travel comparison—and Expedia must preserve its position as intermediaries gain influence over discovery and transactions.

Why it matters

If these integrations scale, Expedia’s performance may increasingly depend on its ability to supply inventory and booking capability across third-party consumer surfaces, not simply attract users to its own properties. Record bookings suggest the core business has momentum, but the uncertain question raised by the AI coverage is whether new agents become valuable distribution channels for Expedia or capture more of the customer relationship and economics themselves.

Related: Uber · Airbnb · Priceline · Dara Khosrowshahi · Sources: Uber's board has voted to offer the CEO job to Expedia CEO Da