Less than a month after OpenAI's "Operator" launched with public partners including Booking.com and Priceline, Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel was nothing short of emphatic over the potential of agentic artificial intelligence.
He called this period an "incredible time" to be in the industry with the "transformative force of AI, particularly generative AI redefining how people will experience the world," while discussing the company's strong fourth quarter and full year 2024 financial results with analysts Thursday evening.
"We believe that compelling AI-powered offerings like a travel vertical-specific agent will play a central role in delivering [an] even more seamless and personalized, connected trip experience to travelers," Fogel said. "We see the development and use of AI agents and those agents working with other AI agents as a potential way to more quickly bring together the different elements of travel into a truly connected offering on our platform."
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In an email statement, the company said it expects that agentic AI will change how travelers use and discover its online travel agencies and that using AI models will help it deliver better value to its customers and its partners.
Fogel said the company's brands will continue developing their AI capabilities, such as Booking.com's AI trip planner and Priceline's Penny.
In terms of the partnership with OpenAI, Fogel wouldn't disclose any financial impacts or future expectations. Right now, he said, it's about learning.
"What is the purpose of it?" he said of the partnership. "It's working with a very respected partner who knows a lot about AI, we know a lot about the travel industry. How can we do things together that'd be mutually beneficial to both of us? And we'll learn."
Alternative accommodations, flights segments see more bookings
While AI was the topic many of the analysts wanted to discuss with Fogel, the company also reported notable financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2024.
The company reported record revenue in 2024 of $23.7 billion, an 11% increase over 2023. Room nights for the full year were 1.1 billion, up 9% over 2023. Gross bookings were $165.6 billion, up 10% year over year, and adjusted EBITDA for 2024 was $8.3 billion, up 17% over 2023. Marketing spend for 2024 was $7.3 billion, representing about 31% of revenue and up from $6.8 billion in 2023.
Gross bookings were $37.2 billion for the quarter, up 17% over the same period the year prior. Revenue was $5.5 billion, up 14% over Q4 2023. And adjusted EBITDA was $1.8 billion, up 26% compared to the same time in 2023. During Q4, marketing spend was $1.578 billion, up from $1.4 billion in Q4 2023.
With nearly eight million alternative accommodation listings on its site as of the end of 2024, the company said the number of room nights attributed to listings was up 19% in the fourth quarter compared to the same period in 2023, a bigger jump than the 14% growth reported in the third quarter.
"We were pleased to see alternative accommodation rooms and growth accelerate in the quarter across all of our regions," Fogel said.
Fogel added the company's flight sector was also seeing increased traction -- even bringing more customers to Booking Holdings' platform.
"Very excited about those flight numbers," Fogels said. "Fifty-two percent growth, and it was an acceleration from the previous quarter ... I looked back, it was even acceleration from the quarter before. So ... it's really nice to see that trend. I do not think anybody should be projecting in a linear way that's just going to continue to increase and accelerate salary. That obviously is not going to happen. But I do believe that we will continue to maintain a strong growth in our flight business."
Nearly 14 million airline tickets were booked across Booking Holdings' platforms in the fourth quarter, and for the full year nearly 50 million tickets were booked, up 38% year-over-year.
The two segments are ingredients in the company's connected trip vision. During the fourth quarter connected trip transactions rose 45% year-over-year, representing a high single digit percentage of Booking.com's total transactions, according to the company.
"We remain highly-focused on appropriately investing in our business for the long term, including by leveraging and deploying generative AI technology to drive further value to our travelers and partners," Fogel said.