No matter how you parse the numbers, Booking Holdings' B2B business appears to be a lot larger than the travel industry previously understood. Its in-process reorganization could have significant implications for OTA competition.
LinkedIn X Facebook Email Gift How reliable are the disclosure-based assumptions BTIG used, and when might Booking be required to report B2B segment financials? How should hotel owners and revenue managers respond to the growing B2B share at both OTAs? Does raw room-night volume matter more than product quality and margin when comparing the two B2B businesses? Select a question above or ask something else
Expedia has long been seen as the clear leader in travel's B2B business — selling hotel rooms, flights, cars, and other inventory to banks, airlines, and other partners rather than directly to consumers. A new Wall Street estimate suggests that may no longer be true.
BTIG analyst Jake Fuller estimates Booking Holdings' B2B business booked around 196 million room nights over the past 12 months — about 15% more than the roughly 170 million booked through Expedia's partner business. "The consensus is that BKNG's B2B business is probably small given the lack of disclosure, but that's not the conclusion we come to," Fuller wrote in a research note published Thursday.
That assumption has persisted in part because Booking doesn't disclose any financials for its B2B business at all, while Expedia does. Expedia's B2B segment grew revenue 23% to $1.5 billion in the second quarter, compared with 8% growth at its larger, $2.7 billion consumer business — real, public n
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Tags: b2b , booking holdings , booking.com , distribution , expedia , hotels , online travel newsletter , research
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