ChatGPT launches travel apps with Expedia and Booking.com
US: OpenAI has launched third-party apps within ChatGPT, starting with travel giants Expedia and Booking.com, allowing users to research and book trips directly through the chatbot. The move follows the launch of OpenAI’s new Apps SDK (software development kit), which enables developers to create integrated experiences within ChatGPT. The feature opens ChatGPT’s 800-million-strong user base […]
Expedia Group confirms restructuring and further layoffs
US: Expedia Group has confirmed it is restructuring parts of its organisation, a move that is expected to involve further layoffs.
Booking Holdings’ Hungarian office raided by competition watchdog
Hungary: National competition watchdog GVH raided the Budapest office of Booking Holdings on Wednesday as part of a probe into the online accommodation booking and service market in Hungary.
Travel and hospitality helps earthquake victims in Turkey and Syria
Turkey / Syria: The editorial team at IHM [publisher of ShortTermRentalz] highlight the charitable relief efforts of companies across the travel and hospitality landscape in response to the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.
Travel and hospitality responds to Ukraine crisis
Worldwide: The editorial team at IHM highlight the charitable efforts of travel and hospitality companies in response to the Ukraine invasion.
Booking to repay $110m in Covid aid to governments
Netherlands / US: Online travel agency Booking Holdings has revealed it will repay up to $110 million in coronavirus aid to governments who supported the company during the height of the pandemic. including around $78 million [€64 million] to the Dutch government over an executive pay row. Booking announced it would repay the aid in a […]
Booking Holdings “hopeful” for U-shaped recovery by Spring 2021
Worldwide: In its latest earnings call for 2020 Q3, Booking Holding senior executives are predicting a second dip in cancellation rates in November and December before a U-shaped recovery [rather than the deep V shape seen earlier in the year] until Spring 2021. The company is forecasting a loss in the fourth quarter despite seeing […]
Agoda re-introduced into Google vacation rental product lineup
Worldwide: Google’s vacation rental product now includes listings from Booking Holdings brand Agoda, while Airbnb is, intriguingly, absent from the search engine’s feature lineup. As the tech company continues the strengthening of its vacation rental offering with Google Vacation Rentals [or Holiday Rentals outside of the USA], which includes listings and reviews for property management […]
Booking Holdings’ gross bookings plummeted 91 per cent in Q2
US / Netherlands: In the week that online travel agency Booking.com announced a 25 per cent trimming of its global workforce, parent company Booking Holdings has published its highly-anticipated second quarter results leading up to 30 June 2020, which highlight the devastating impact the coronavirus has had on its business. On the company’s earnings conference […]
Booking Holdings wins trademark Supreme Court case
US: Booking Holdings, which manages travel brands such as Booking.com, Kayak, Agoda and Priceline, has won a legal case in the United States over the naming of its flagship website, Booking.com. The case, which made its way to the American Supreme Court, asserted that the website’s name referred to a generic service, and could not […]