Did Expedia catch that M&A fever again? We reported exclusively that deal talks were under way between Expedia and Ireland's CarTrawler. Expedia acquired Tiqets in February, but this is not 2015 all over again. That's when Expedia acquired Travelocity, Orbitz and HomeAway. This time around Expedia's M&A push targets beefing up its B2B business, not B2C.
Meanwhile, our CEO Rafat Ali took a deep dive into Booking Holdings' business models, and concluded that its stock buybacks are unsustainable. In another corner of Booking Holdings: its Priceline brand relaunched the Negotiator ad campaign with actor Randall Park succeeding William Shatner. Priceline's Brigit Zimmerman succeeded longtime CEO Brett Keller in January, and she has plans to remake Priceline as the leading value-oriented online travel agency in North America. It's just another week in OTA land.
GLOBAL TRAVEL COLLECTION + SKIFT
For years, Global Travel Collection's $2.4 billion in sales has been spread across legacy brands, masking its true scale. Its brand unification is a signal that scale is becoming the defining competitive advantage in luxury travel.
EDITOR’S PICKS
Expedia Promotes B2B Chief to Lead Global Supply as Partner Business Takeover Accelerates
May 11, 2026
In her seven years heading Expedia B2B before becoming CEO in 2024, you can imagine Ariane Gorin feeling that the unit had so much unrealized potential. While Booking Holdings might be the much larger business, Gorin is trying to show that Expedia B2B is the secret sauce.
Brian Chesky Says Airbnb Won’t Mix Homes and Hotels — That’s ‘Pre-AI’ Design
May 7, 2026
Airbnb's Chesky is nothing if not ambitious. Given that people's preferences can change at any moment, the ability to serve customers with only a hotel or home, depending what they need in that instant, seems a long way off, even with agentic AI.
The travel industry is moving from AI experimentation to execution, with real impact across distribution, operations, and customer experience. The Skift Data + AI Summit returns June 3 in New York City, bringing industry leaders together to share the next wave of AI applications and data strategies shaping travel.
SKIFT PODCAST NETWORK
Brian Chesky thinks AI is about to radically change how companies operate.
In this clip from Good Morning Hospitality, a Skift Podcast, Jamie Lane, Michael Goldin, and Brandreth Canaley discuss Chesky’s recent podcast appearances and his comments about AI replacing traditional people management roles.
The bigger question is what happens to organizational structures when AI dramatically increases individual output.
SKIFT TRAVEL 200
How are public travel tech companies performing around the world? The Skift Travel 200 pulls the data you need to know to understand the market. Paid subscribers get full access here.
