Duff on Hospitality Law

Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, May 29, 2026, is below. The short week (at least for those of us in the U.S.) made for a relatively quiet week in the online travel world. Enjoy.

• • Has the Direct Booking Decade Turned Out as Planned? A story from Skift this past week purports to provide answers. Having had a front seat to the supplier-OTA give and take over the past decade, I can say that much of what Skift’s reports rang true for me. Yes, the percentage of direct bookings versus OTA facilitated bookings has remained relatively flat for the largest operators. But . . . the particulars of those OTA facilitated bookings has continued to change – commission levels, marketing commitments, parity obligations (not just rates and availability), resell price maintenance, payment tools, keyword protections (or not), EU competition laws, fintech and B2B distribution. The smartest hoteliers are rightly focused on more than OTA commission levels. The rapid change we’ve seen the past 10 years isn’t slowing anytime soon as the industry grapples with AI, evolving EU regulation and OTAs’ growing focus on B2B. And that just summarizes changes in leisure distribution. Don’t overlook corporate/managed travel – changes are coming.
  • Airbnb’s Hotel Efforts Continue to Show Momentum. This past week, Airbnb announced the hiring of Andrea D’Amico as the new Vice President of Hotels. Andrea’s hiring is a reunion of sorts as the former Booking.com executive will again work alongside fellow Booking.com alum, Lou Zameryka. Airbnb’s hotel efforts have also expanded beyond the handful of test markets in late 2025 to now over 30 markets globally.

Have a great week everyone.

Good Monday afternoon from Seattle . . . For those of you celebrating and/or who have served, happy Memorial Day. Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, May 22, 2026, is below. Expedia Group and Google garnered much of the attention this past week as Expedia held its annual Explore event and Google held its annual I/O Developer Conference where advancements in online travel took center stage. Enjoy.

• • Expedia Explore 26 Highlights. Expedia’s annual partner event this past week was the source of several announcements by the OTA behemoth.
    • Intelligent Experience Platform. Among its many announcements, Expedia announced the launch of an AI toolkit, which among other things, includes a soon to be available MCP server to improve Expedia’s B2B partners’ access and use of Expedia’s content. With the MCP server offering, Expedia can power partners’ own AI travel experiences.
    • New Meta Partnership. Not to be outdone by TikTok’s recently announced travel partnerships for its TikTok GO platform, Meta (and Expedia) announced a new partnership this past week through which users of Meta’s social media platforms can begin planning a travel itinerary or ask travel specific questions while using the popular platforms.
  • Booking Holdings to Soon to Consolidate Ad Sales Across Its Three OTA Platforms. For years now, Booking.com, Agoda and Priceline have rejected clients’ efforts to consolidate commercial terms, arguing that the three platforms are entirely separate and distinct. That may no longer be true as Booking Holdings announced last week the launch of BKNG Ads, a platform for customers to work with a single ad team to purchase and place advertising across all three platforms. Suppliers, it may soon be time to reconsider your advertising commitments to any one of the three platforms and explore how this latest announcement might affect your annual marketing commitment.
  • Hotels Are Next Industry Vertical for Google UCP. In a series of announcements (including blog posts) this past week, Google officially acknowledged that its agentic commercial infrastructure (UCP) would soon be available to those seeking (via agents) to book travel. Hints at the move were made public weeks ago, but this past week the move became official. Agent Payments Protocol, Google’s payment layer, is expected to be part of the same rollout. Timing for the expansion wasn’t announced. Partners featured in the announcements include Expedia Group, Booking.com, Wyndham, Marriott, Choice and IHG.

Have a great week everyone.

Good Sunday afternoon from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, May 15, 2026, is below. With quarterly earnings releases behind us, it was a much quieter week in the online travel world. TikTok garnered most of the industry’s attention this past week with its announced expansion of TikTok GO. Enjoy.

• • TikTok Announces In-App Booking with TikTok GO. For some time now, I’ve included references to social media platforms in my client presentations on the future of distribution and advised clients to keep an eye on popular social media platforms and their travel aspirations. While AI has garnered most of the distribution headlines over the past 18+ months, social media cannot be overlooked particularly for younger travelers. This past week, TikTok, announced partnerships with the many of the usual suspects – Expedia, Booking.com, Trip.com, Viator and GetYourGuide and Tiqets (now part of Expedia) - that will allow users (U.S. initially) of the popular social media platform to “look and book” accommodations and experiences. Creators who feature accommodations and activities in their posts will be able to earn commissions when their content is connected to a booking. According to Tik Tok, each of the announced partners underwent rolling testing over the past year with positive results (no details were provided). As the bright lines that once separated the phases of the traditional sales funnel are further eroded (first with AI and now these social media booking solutions), it will be interesting to watch whether these new tools actually produce additional bookings. For suppliers concerned about this latest booking tool and intermediaries’ seemingly headstart in leveraging its possible opportunities, it is time to review again the marketing and IP provisions in your favorite intermediary agreement. For years, suppliers have granted intermediaries broad discretion for social media platforms. Something to think about in your next renewal or extension.
  • Ever Wonder the Real Value of Booking.com’s Merchant Model (aka Facilitated Payment)? Skift’s Rafat Ali (one of my favorite industry observers) provides a deep dive into Booking Holdings’ financials and uncovers the real value of Booking.com’s growing merchant model (one of three interdependent “machines” identified by Ali within Booking). Yes, the merchant model may present additional operating costs and challenges (fraud, chargebacks, etc.), but don’t be fooled. The merchant model provides Booking.com greater control over its traveler relationships (e.g., rate discounting would be nearly impossible without the merchant model) and without the merchant model, Booking Holdings’ recent run of aggressive returns of shareholder capital would be impossible.
  • How Important is B2B to Expedia’s Future? Just look at this past week’s announced promotion of Alfonso Paredes, who formerly led Expedia’s B2B business, to President of B2B and Chief Commercial Officer. In his new role, Alfonso will have responsibility for both Expedia’s EPS platform and global supply (without which, the EPS platform could not function). Expedia’s former Chief Commercial Officer, Greg Schulze, a 20+ year veteran of Expedia, will be leaving the company.
  • OpenAI Seeks to Grow Enterprise Deployments and the Travel Industry May Have Shown Them How. Leveraging the experience gained by Tomoro and its team of AI experts and engineers deploying AI across Virgin Atlantic, OpenAI (which recently acquired Tomoro) plans to launch a new AI deployment company (OpenAI Deployment Company). According to OpenAI, the plan is to embed personnel from the new company directly inside client companies to identify the best AI use cases, facilitate AI (likely only OpenAI’s version) adoption and then grow it. With Tomoro’s assistance, Virgin Atlantic built an AI concierge (chatbot) that can handle bookings, loyalty accounts and customer support – all through natural language searches on Virgin Atlantic’s website and mobile application. Clients of the new OpenAI company are expected to have front row seats to OpenAI’s ongoing research and product pipeline.

Have a great week everyone.

Good Sunday afternoon from Seattle and happy Mother’s Day to all our mothers . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, May 8, 2026, is below. It was another busy week in online travel as both Expedia and Airbnb released their quarterly earnings (transcripts from both earnings release calls are linked below). I’ve also included a few legal updates featuring everyone’s favorite – influencers –, Trivago’s anti-trust claims against Google and Google’s latest attempt at DMA compliance. Enjoy.

• • UK Authority Raises Concerns Over Influencer Posts. As influencers’ influence over important social media channels continues to grow, the UK’s advertising authority, Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), has issued a report detailing influencers’ failure to properly disclose their posts as travel ads. In its review of over 500 social media posts (Instagram and Tik Tok), the ASA found that only 20% of the posts were properly disclosed, 11% were disclosed, but inadequately, and 69% contained no disclosures. According to the report, ASA plans to contact both travel suppliers and influencers over the problematic posts. An important reminder for our US and UK readers, travel suppliers in the US and UK can be held responsible for influencers’ failure to properly disclose, so due diligence and oversight is critical.
  • Expedia Posts Strong 1Q26 Financial Results. Again, we’re not going to dive into the financial results of Expedia’s first quarter – there are many (far more qualified) resources to provide those details. Highlights for me from this past quarter’s earnings release include the following:
    
    • According to Expedia CEO, Ariane Gorin, the use of AI is benefiting Expedia many ways including higher conversions on VRBO via servicing agents and AI filters, faster onboarding of new properties, increasing numbers (30%) of service interactions powered by AI, improved marketing value and increased traffic volumes and acquisition. Answer engine optimization (e.g., ChatGPT ads) is now Expedia’s “fastest growing channel.”
    • B2B continues to be a primary growth engine (see recent Uber announcement). Revenue in the first quarter grew 25% (to $1.2 billion). Ariane now views Expedia’s B2B business as an entirely separate line of business.
  • Meet Lola, Booking Holdings' “East Coast” Startup. Skift this past week revealed further details on one of Booking Holdings’ startups (the “East Coast” startup), Lola. The “stealth” project features two online travel industry veterans, Kayak’s Steve Hafner and Paul English. A new splash page for the startup appeared this past week featuring brand banners for Booking.com, Kayak, OpenTable, FareHarbor and SeatGeek. Our readers might remember an earlier version of “Lola,” which was launched in 2015 and featured a combination of digital online travel services and human agents. That effort was ultimately purchased by Capital One in 2021.
  • William Shatner is Back. Sorry, I cannot pass up a story featuring the original online price negotiator. He’s now 95.
  • Trivago Brings Anti-Trust Claims Against Google. Trivago this past week filed suit against Google in a German Court alleging that the search giant favored its own hotel metasearch products over those of its competitors (which is prohibited under the DMA), like Trivago. The suit covers the period of January 2024 – December 2025 and seeks damages as well as the disclosure of traffic and revenue data.
  • Google Testing New Search Box in Latest Attempt to Comply with DMA. Google’s ongoing efforts to satisfy its DMA obligations and major advertisers continues. Google’s latest effort includes a box at the top of search results that features a single comparison website (e.g., Booking.com). The featured comparison website will be determined based on relevance to the specific search query, not an auction. Suppliers will be given a separate second box under the initial comparison website’s box. With the success of Google AI mode, one has to ask how much longer the current iteration of the DMA and the EU’s enforcement efforts will even be relevant.
  • Takeaways from Recent AmexGBT Announcement. Much has been written this past week over Long Lake Management’s announced private takeover of the corporate travel platform, Amex GBT. While the takeover represents the latest chapter in the platform’s long and storied history, it also sends a strong message about corporate travel and the belief, at least by certain investors, that corporate travel is a prime candidate for AI automation. Long Lake Management was formed in 2023 and is backed by many of the same investors behind several prominent AI companies, including ChatGPT. Long Lake Management’s previous endeavors have focused on traditional service businesses that it believed could benefit from the introduction and use of AI. Its latest efforts in the homeowner association management business produced 25-30 percent productivity gains. Now Long Lake Management is focused on another service business, corporate travel. What this means for Amex GBT and its 22,000 employees and corporate/managed travel generally will be watched by many in the months and years to come. Stay tuned.

Have a great week everyone.

Good Saturday morning from San Diego . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, May 1, 2026, is below. As the number of stories included in our weekly Update indicate, it was a busy week in online travel with Booking Holdings’ quarterly earnings release (a complete copy of the earnings call transcript is linked below) and a newly announced partnership between Uber and Expedia. Enjoy.

• • An End to Keywords? A question that many of us have been asking for some time now – particularly as we reconsider the keyword provisions that we’ve relied on for years now. Google’s recent announcements may provide an answer. Now that Google has introduced AI platforms that may soon replace traditional organic and paid search, Google has now turned its attention to monetizing those platforms. This past week, Google announced changes to its AI Max advertising products that will match ads to users’ conversational queries, not just a keyword or two. With these newly announced Google tools, marketers may define messages, audiences and exclusions, but Google decides (not the marketer) when such messages, audiences and exclusions match users’ intent and appear. What will markets pay to be part of this new uncertain system? Only time will tell. For those of us struggling with keyword provisions and their enforcement, it is time to re-think our approach.
  • Swiss Authorities to Examine Keyword Restrictions. The Swiss Competition Commission has announced two new investigations into search engine advertising, including advertising by three package travel companies. At issue are alleged agreements among companies to refrain from bidding on keywords associated with each other’s competing brands. Given our first highlighted story, one has to ask how relevant this investigation might be in a year or two.
  • Uber’s SuperApp Aspirations. On Wednesday, Uber announced a series of new products and features targeting travel. The biggest (and by far, the most publicized) new feature is the soon availability of hotels to Uber users in the U.S. through a newly announced partnership with Expedia (Dara is back in travel). Ultimately, Uber expects to offer 700,000 hotels with Uber One members earning 10% back in Uber One credits with each booking and hotel discounts (up to 20%) on a rolling list of hotels. As part of the newly announced partnership, Uber rides will also soon be integrated directly into the Expedia app. Other announced features include Uber Travel, which includes curated travel recommendations, Open Table reservations and Uber’s new “room service,” which arranges for food to be delivered to the hotel room you just booked on Expedia. Exactly how the promised hotel room discounts would be provided or funded by Expedia wasn’t made clear.
  • Booking Holdings Issues First Quarter Earnings Report. I will let others far more knowledgeable speak to Booking Holdings’ newly announced first quarter financials. Here are a few of my takeaways from the OTA’s first quarter earnings release:
    • Booking.com’s continued focus on the U.S. market is now producing real results. U.S. room night growth accelerated in the first quarter (fourth consecutive quarter) to the low teens largely through domestic bookings. Booking.com’s growing U.S. strength wasn’t just limited to hotels, but extended across flights, cars and packages. According to Booking, its strong U.S. numbers make clear that Booking is now taking share from its U.S. competitors (hello, Expedia).
    • Booking estimates that the Middle East conflict has reduced room night growth by approximately 2 percentage points (with similar effects on gross bookings). Booking expects these effects to continue (and even escalate) into the second quarter, but it is expecting a third and fourth quarter rebound.
    • With regard to popular AI platforms, CEO Glenn Fogel believes that the so-called “performance marketing platforms,” will ultimately be very advantageous to Booking. Among other things, Booking believes that AI platforms will increase the number of travels willing to purchase travel digitally.
  • Claude Announces New Connectors. Anthropic announced this past week a list of new apps that users can connect with Claude. By connecting third party apps, users can interact with multiple apps while in a single Claude conversation. Once connected, these apps become part of the Claude conversation as Claude recommends apps it believes most relevant to users’ preferences, context or conversation. If two or more connected apps are relevant, users may see several apps. The newly announced “connector” apps include Booking.com, TripAdvisor and Uber (and now by extension, Expedia?).

Have a great week everyone.