While online travel agencies (OTAs) often tout their direct traffic percentages, the largest players continue to spend heavily on marketing.
In the second quarter of 2026, Airbnb, Expedia Group, and Booking Holdings shelled out roughly $5.37 billion on marketing expenses.
Booking spent the most, with total marketing spend up 11% from $2.14 billion in Q2 2025 to $2.37 billion in Q2 2026.
During its second quarter earnings call, Booking Holdings CFO Ewout Steenbergen said the uptick was "driven by changes in traffic mix, incremental investments in paid marketing at attractive ROIs and a shift of merchandising spend to performance marketing."
"As always, we aim to grow our top line metrics faster than marketing investments but are willing to lean in when we see positive long-term value for the business through both attractive ROIs and repeat rates," he said.
CEO Glenn Fogel also highlighted that the company's direct traffic hasn't shifted, staying in the mid-60% range.
Expedia Group also saw a double-digit uptick in Q2, with marketing spend up 10% to $2.12 billion, largely driven by its B2B business.
Ariane Gorin, CEO of Expedia Group, has noted that while search engine optimization is stable but soft, social media and answer engine optimization (AEO) have become two of the company's fastest-growing channels.
At the Goldman Sachs Communacopia and Technology Conference last week, Gorin said two thirds of its consumer business comes direct, and Expedia Group is working to appear in results generated by AI agents.
"What you saw us do over the last year of is experiment, whether it's in organic with AEO, whether it was with agentic browsers, whether it was with the microapps. We were constantly—and more recently with paid ads in ChatGPT—we, I wouldn't say over-investing, but we're actively investing to make sure we are learning and experimenting early in all of those. And it's going to be the same thing with these horizontal agents."
Addressing an analyst question about marketing efficiency on its Q2 earnings call in early August, CFO Derek Andersen said that Expedia has successfully improved margins by reducing inefficient marketing spend and redirecting it "to more productive channels."
"The structural improvements that we've made on the marketing program are going to endure and give us a base to drive further efficiencies off going forward," Andersen said.
Airbnb spent approximately $875 million on sales and marketing in Q2 2026, compared to $691 million during the same period last year.
Similar to previous quarters, the short-term rental giant didn't reveal too much about its marketing approach. However, at the Goldman Sachs conference last week, CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky did cite it as one of the key components to international growth, alongside supply and localization.
Airbnb again noted its local marketing campaigns in growth markets to "reinforce relevance" in specific countries. The company also cited investments in marketing, as well as in talent and technology, as one of a driver or revenue growth and margin in its Q2 shareholder letter.