**London**: Booking.com reports significant advancements in its Connected Trip initiative, achieving 1.1 billion room nights and a profit surge. CEO Glenn Fogel hints at AI’s potential role while cautioning about ongoing workforce reductions, as the company grapples with the performance of its package holiday offerings.
Booking.com has reported significant advancements in its vision for a “Connected Trip,” according to its full-year results for 2024. The report highlighted the booking of 1.1 billion room nights and the sale of 49 million air tickets over the previous year. However, exact figures for package holiday or dynamic package bookings were not disclosed, raising questions about the performance of its Connected Trip initiative. Chief Executive Glenn Fogel did mention that “connected transactions represented a high single-digit percentage of total transactions,” emphasising the company’s ongoing efforts in this area.
Since acquiring a tour operator software firm in 2018, Booking.com has been developing its Connected Trip concept, although it has yet to provide sales figures specifically for this category. The company holds an Atol (Air Travel Organisers’ Licensing) for 1.27 million package customers in the UK, a significant reduction from almost 2.4 million in 2023.
Reports indicate that Booking.com offers package holidays in the UK through partnerships with online agencies like lastminute.com, with its Atol primarily covering flight-only sales. Lastminute.com operates under the Atol of its parent company, Bravonext, which has shown little growth in its licensing since 2023.
In further developments, Fogel discussed the potential of generative AI in enhancing the Connected Trip experience, remarking, “We see the development and use of AI agents… as a potential way to more quickly bring together the different elements of travel into a truly connected offering.” He pointed out the sophisticated AI integration currently within the company and highlighted collaborations with leading generative AI organisations on “Agentic” developments, which refer to autonomous AI agents designed to assist or replace human roles in the booking process.
He elaborated on the rising significance of flight bookings, which increased by 38% year-on-year, stating, “Flights are an important component in many of the Connected Trips our travellers book.” This highlights the company’s strategy to draw customers in by showcasing flights, in addition to traditional offerings like hotels, ground transportation, and insurance, aiming to create “that travel agent in your pocket.”
In terms of financial performance, Booking Holdings reported a robust profit increase of 37% year-on-year, totalling $5.9 billion for 2024. Gross bookings rose by 10% compared to 2023, reaching $166 billion. The platform’s revenue also saw an 11% rise to $23.7 billion, with room nights booked increasing by 9% to 1.1 billion. Fogel referred to this as “a strong finish to 2024″.
The company reported substantial revenue as a merchant, generating over $14 billion, and an additional $8.5 billion through agency services, with gross agency bookings amounting to $61.4 billion and further revenues from advertising and other sources reaching $1 billion. Notably, European bookers accounted for about half of the room nights booked during the year.
Booking Holdings’ financial success enabled it to repurchase $1.1 billion in shares during the final quarter of the year, with total repurchases since 2022 nearing $23 billion. The board granted authorization for an additional $7.7 billion in repurchases at the year’s end and approved plans for up to $20 billion more in January.
Additionally, Fogel announced an “expected workforce reduction”, although he did not specify how many positions would be affected, indicating possible changes ahead for the company’s workforce.
Source: Noah Wire Services
Subscribe to Industry Updates
