Expedia Group testing OpenAI ad products as agentic partnership economics take shape

Expedia Group is participating in OpenAI's advertising products and is willing to accept the potential of lower returns as it tests them.

"I think it's important, as there are new products that come out on the market, to take a posture of testing, being willing to maybe accept some returns that aren't as high as more established products that are more optimized," Ariane Gorin, CEO of Expedia Group, told analysts when asked about OpenAI's recently launched advertising products.

Gorin did not confirm which products the online travel giant is a part of. OpenAI's recent launches include "Sponsored Agents," introduced in September, which let users start a conversation with a business-sponsored AI agent after clicking on an ad.

Expedia Group's own advertising growth slowed to 7% during Q3, down from 13% in Q2, but CFO Derek Andersen attributed the deceleration to ongoing product improvements, namely campaign management capabilities and AI-enabled tools.

Gorin said the open attitude around testing speaks to Expedia's wider approach to artificial intelligence (AI).

“As some of these new AI services come out with new products, we'll be testing, learning, and then over time, I believe many of these will become big channels for us. And to the extent that there's more fragmentation at the top of the funnel, that's a good thing for us.”

Gorin further touched on agentic partnerships, telling analysts that Expedia Group is using integrations to better understand changing customer behavior, how agents are making decisions and what kind of customers are using agents. It also informs how the company integrates natural language experiences into its own products.

Gorin also said that Expedia's integration with Meta's Muse, which was announced in late September, was going live during Wednesday evening's call. 

"Muse is going to have access to our prices, our content and the like to be able to recognize travelers and then send them to us, either complete the booking in Muse or send them directly to us," she said.

"It's going to be fascinating to watch what is it that the users choose to do."

When asked about the economics of its agentic partnerships, Gorin said they're "being worked out." She reiterated that agentic AI traffic is high intent, but it still represents a small share of traffic and isn't impacting direct bookings.

"It's either incremental, or it's taken from other paid channels," Gorin said.

Citing third-party data, she said Expedia leads in citation share in the U.S., and when it's time to book, consumers still look for a brand they know.

"So far, what we're seeing is that agentic AI's real strength is in discovery, but that when it comes to bookings, people still want to book with a trusted brand where they know that they'll be taken care of if something goes wrong. They know they can trust the content and the prices and the like," Gorin said.

Agentic AI in B2B

Expedia Group executives also fielded questions about agentic AI's potential on the B2B side.

Gorin said the agentic opportunities fall in two categories: helping existing partners with technological capabilities and becoming a resource for an AI company that decides to sell travel.

"If there are agents who say, 'We want to be the provider ourselves of travel booking rather than being a demand channel for existing travel brands,' we clearly are well positioned to be able to do that," she said.

"What's important to know is that the technology investments and the infrastructure and supply and all of that that we have in B2B, that global reach, that ability to do servicing allows us to both help our existing partners and potential new partners as they look at agentic commerce."

In September, Qantas also became the first partner to use Expedia Group's agentic template, which combines its existing infrastructure with a customizable user experience "to create a tailored customer experience," Gorin said during her prepared remarks.

"As we enhance the template with agentic capabilities, as we add activities to the travel agency platform, we think that those will be growth levers in order to grow with existing partners, of course, [and] also with new partners," she added later on.

Q3 2026 financial results

Expedia Group's revenue was up 12% year over year, increasing from $4.4 billion in Q3 2025 to $4.9 billion in Q3 2026. This was driven by its B2B business, which totaled $1.7 billion, a 23% year-over-year increase from $1.4 billion.

Net income was up 7% as well, increasing from $959 million to just over $1 billion. Adjusted EBITDA totaled $1.69 billion, a 17% year-over-year increase from $1.45 billion in Q3 2025.

Expedia Group upped direct selling and marketing by 10%, doling out $2.18 billion in Q3 2026 compared to $1.98 billion in Q3 2025.

Booked room nights also increased 7% year over year, up from 108.2 million to 115.7 million. Total gross bookings increased 11%, from $30.7 billion to $34 billion, driven by 19% growth in B2B gross bookings and 7% growth in B2C.