Booking.com News

As a global leader in online accommodations and travel services, Booking.com continues to shape the digital travel experience through innovation, platform evolution, and strategic partnerships. PhocusWire delivers the latest Booking.com news to keep industry professionals informed on how this travel giant is adapting to shifting market dynamics and consumer expectations.

Key Booking.com updates, partnerships, and market trends

Follow developments in Booking.com’s core technology, loyalty strategies, and supplier relationships, along with its expansion into flights, experiences, and payments. Our reporting covers how the brand is responding to competitive pressures, regulatory environments, and the increasing demand for seamless, personalized travel.

Booking.com pursues domestic growth, downplays "connected trip" strategy
News / Online
Booking.com pursues domestic growth, downplays "connected trip" strategy
By Mitra Sorrells | September 29, 2020
The online travel agency is updating its products, payment methods and marketing strategies to better serve domestic travelers. Read More
VIDEO: Gillian Tans of Booking.com on diversity and leadership in travel
News / Online
VIDEO: Gillian Tans of Booking.com on diversity and leadership in travel
By PhocusWire | September 23, 2020
The Booking.com chairwoman discusses her career path at the business and the challenges the industry needs to address as it faces up to its responsibility to be inclusive and diverse, both to staff and... Read More
Booking.com introduces longer-stay rates
News / Online
Booking.com introduces longer-stay rates
By Christina Jelski - Travel Weekly | September 22, 2020
The move is largely designed to bolster Booking.com's homes and apartments business, which has accounted for a growing share of the brand's bookings mid-pandemic. Read More
Holidu raises new €5M investment, backed by a former Booking.com boss
News / Online
Holidu raises new €5M investment, backed by a former Booking.com boss
By Kevin May | September 21, 2020
Booking.com's former CEO, Kees Koolen, has put forward €4 million of his own money into the top-up round, alongside other, unnamed investors. Read More
Can travel become less dependent on Google in a post-pandemic world?
Opinion / Online
Can travel become less dependent on Google in a post-pandemic world?
By Mario Gavira | September 1, 2020
Travel marketers may want to use this time to reinvent their strategies to avoid falling once again under the iron grip of Google.  Read More
Booking Holdings feels "full impact" of coronavirus as gross bookings plunge 91% in Q2 2020
News / Online
Booking Holdings feels "full impact" of coronavirus as gross bookings plunge 91% in Q2 2020
By Jill Menze | August 6, 2020
CEO Glenn Fogel believes it will be years and not quarters before the travel market returns to pre-COVID dollars. Read More
Booking.com cuts workforce by a quarter as pandemic bites
News / Online
Booking.com cuts workforce by a quarter as pandemic bites
By Kevin May | August 4, 2020
Almost 4,500 employees working for Booking.com are being laid off. Details about who and where will be figured out in the coming weeks. Read More
Short-term rentals and misalignment of the marketplace
Opinion / Distribution
Short-term rentals and misalignment of the marketplace
By Jared Alster - Dune7 | July 29, 2020
The distribution landscape for short-term vacation rentals is dominated by marketplaces. However, the pandemic has revealed some weak points and misalignment of incentives within the traditional... Read More
booking-com-travel-incentive
News / Distribution
Booking.com creates rebooking incentive with money back for travelers, waived commission for suppliers
By Mitra Sorrells | July 20, 2020
Booking.com’s new travel incentive gives customers a 15% reward if they rebook stays they had canceled.   Read More
Booking.com wins brand name trademark case
News / Online
Booking.com wins brand name trademark case
By Kevin May | July 1, 2020
The travel giant had been refused a trademark of its flagship brand by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which claimed the term was "generic for the services at issue and is therefore... Read More
How travel brands can capture - and welcome - the LGBTQ family market
News / Online
How travel brands can capture - and welcome - the LGBTQ family market
By Jill Menze | June 17, 2020
Brands such as Booking.com are investing in training to make the travel industry more inclusive to LGBTQ family travelers. Read More
Booking.com gets product from TUI's Musement to bolster activities strategy
News / Online
Booking.com gets product from TUI's Musement to bolster activities strategy
By Kevin May | June 8, 2020
The agreement with Musement-owner TUI is the first third-party agreement by Booking.com to secure inventory and also a signal of the tour operating giant's intentions to expand its B2B operations in... Read More
Trivago, Booking.com, KLM and others unite to create COVID-19 information service
News / Distribution
Trivago, Booking.com, KLM and others unite to create COVID-19 information service
By Kevin May | June 4, 2020
A group of major travel brands have created a service to provide a single data source with current global news as it relates to the coronavirus outbreak and recovery. Read More
Like it or not, the fate of your hotel is in the hands of OTAs
Opinion / Distribution
Like it or not, the fate of your hotel is in the hands of OTAs
By Dori Stein - Fornova | June 3, 2020
Here’s why OTAs will provide a key source of near-term bookings and what hoteliers can do to ensure they’re capitalizing on the right opportunities. Read More
Booking Holdings Q1 gross bookings plummet 51%, total revenue down 19%
News / Online
Booking Holdings Q1 gross bookings plummet 51%, total revenue down 19%
By Mitra Sorrells | May 7, 2020
Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel says it will take "years - not quarters" for the travel industry to recover, as the company saw its gross bookings drop more than 50% in the first quarter of 2020. Read More
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