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.

Priceline Group makes move into ground transportation with Rideways launch
News / Technology
Priceline Group makes move into ground transportation with Rideways launch
By Kevin May | November 8, 2016
Ground transportation is in the cross hairs of the Priceline Group as it starts rolling out a new brand known as Rideways. The service has been developed quietly within the RentalCars division of t Read More
Booking.com and BookingSuite: A lesson for hoteliers that is not about wars
News / Distribution
Booking.com and BookingSuite: A lesson for hoteliers that is not about wars
By Viewpoints | October 28, 2016
Throughout my career in revenue optimization for the hospitality and travel industry, I have always stressed the importance of owning your digital assets. This means having control of your domain, Read More
Expedia eyes alternative accommodation bounty, plots HomeAway integration
News / Distribution
Expedia eyes alternative accommodation bounty, plots HomeAway integration
By Kevin May | October 28, 2016
Expedia will begin including vacation rental listings from stablemate HomeAway in the next few months as the battle for alternative accommodation heats up. The online travel agency will finally hav Read More
Booking.com eyes Asia-Pacific for next move in global domination chess game
News / Distribution
Booking.com eyes Asia-Pacific for next move in global domination chess game
By Kevin May | October 20, 2016
Be warned, Asia-Pacific: Booking.com has big ambitions for the region and wants to replicate the success it had in Europe. The Priceline Group-owned online travel agency carved out a considerable p Read More
Ryanair launches new accommodation service, powered by many (including an old enemy)
News / Distribution
Ryanair launches new accommodation service, powered by many (including an old enemy)
By Kevin May | October 10, 2016
European low-cost giant Ryanair is gradually introducing a new accommodation platform, taking its inspiration in part from metasearch. Rather than having a single provider of hotel and rental produ Read More
Short-term stays could be the long-term strategy for hotels to counter Airbnb
News / Distribution
Short-term stays could be the long-term strategy for hotels to counter Airbnb
By Kevin May | October 6, 2016
A single datapoint contained in a Phocuswright study has illustrated where the hotel industry can fight back against the apparent rise of Airbnb et al. Obviously, the likes of Airbnb, HomeAway and Read More
Booking.com scraps standalone Booking Now late hotel app
News / Technology
Booking.com scraps standalone Booking Now late hotel app
By Kevin May | September 26, 2016
Booking.com has axed its Booking Now mobile app after 20 months in service, although it says last-minute hotels bookings are continuing to grow. The Priceline Group-owned hotel booking giant launch Read More
TripAdvisor and Booking.com take half of luxury hotel reviews on the web
News / Online
TripAdvisor and Booking.com take half of luxury hotel reviews on the web
By Kevin May | September 5, 2016
It is probably no surprise that TripAdvisor commands such a large portion of online hotel reviews - but Booking.com is chasing its tale. At least this is the case of hotels identified in the "luxur Read More
Australia gives hotels more leeway to compete with Expedia and Booking.com
News / Distribution
Australia gives hotels more leeway to compete with Expedia and Booking.com
By Kevin May | September 2, 2016
Another nail in the parity coffin, perhaps, following an Australian regulator's move to restrict rate contracts by Booking.com and Expedia. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission says, Read More
THack China: Gamification, augmented reality, wearables, and more
News / Technology
THack China: Gamification, augmented reality, wearables, and more
By Gene Quinn | August 29, 2016
For anyone in the travel game who’s living in the Old World economy and the pre-mobile interweb economy, fasten your seatbelts. The gamified, personalized future of travel shopping and a New World Read More
Direct hotel bookings, loyalty and the clandestine world of closed user groups
News / Technology
Direct hotel bookings, loyalty and the clandestine world of closed user groups
By Viewpoints | August 26, 2016
Loyalty schemes have been front and centre in advertising campaigns from the large hotel chains this year, as they look to increase their proportion of direct bookings. One notable aspect of this i Read More
Direct hotel booking battle - a potted history [INFOGRAPHIC]
News / Distribution
Direct hotel booking battle - a potted history [INFOGRAPHIC]
By Kevin May | August 23, 2016
The seeds of the current face-off between hotels and intermediaries go back to the mid-1990s, when online travel agencies first arrived on the scene. The creation of Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz, L Read More
Corporate travel tech takeaways from GBTA, according to TripBAM
News / Technology
Corporate travel tech takeaways from GBTA, according to TripBAM
By Viewpoints | August 9, 2016
Last month's GBTA Convention in Denver was an informative mix of the familiar and the fresh, with established players rubbing shoulders with startups and disruptors. NB This is a viewpoint by Steve Read More
Priceline heralds Booking.com's one million reservations in a single day
News / Technology
Priceline heralds Booking.com's one million reservations in a single day
By Juliana Shallcross | August 4, 2016
The Priceline Group's second-quarter results beat expectations, despite recent terrorist attacks and political instability in Europe, as well as competition from major hotel chains and their direct bo Read More
Direct now cheaper than agencies for majority of hotel searches
News / Distribution
Direct now cheaper than agencies for majority of hotel searches
By Kevin May | August 4, 2016
Maybe the regulatory restrictions are starting to get through, or something else - data-crunching has shown that 53% of rates are now cheaper on hotel websites than intermediaries. Checks on over 2 Read More
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