Expedia rebounds after ChatGPT walkback
Expedia and Booking Holdings saw a market boost after OpenAI’s ChatGPT confirmed it won’t support direct travel bookings for now — giving OTAs breathing room to own fulfillment and payments again. That pause reframes Expedia as the necessary bridge between AI discovery and complex travel execution, freeing the company to invest in cross‑brand GenAI platforms rather than defensively racing to protect checkout flows. (simplywall.st)
Reuters reported on March 5 that OpenAI is scaling back plans to enable direct bookings inside ChatGPT, and online travel agency stocks rallied on the news. (whtc.com) Shares of Expedia jumped by more than 12% on that session, while Booking Holdings and Tripadvisor rose roughly 8% and 5% respectively, according to market coverage of the Reuters report. (whtc.com) The Information’s reporting — picked up by industry press — said OpenAI found users were researching trips in ChatGPT but rarely completing purchases there, and that OpenAI will instead prioritize checkouts inside third‑party apps that plug into ChatGPT. (skift.com) Bernstein analyst Richard Clarke called the development “incrementally positive” for online travel agencies, and at least one broker note (Mizuho) adjusted its stance in the wake of the OpenAI news. (insideretail.us) Expedia has already been investing in cross‑brand platform capabilities: a May 14, 2025 Expedia Group announcement detailed new B2B APIs and GenAI partnerships, and cited a Reservation Management API that it says could save hotels an estimated 8 million hours and $120 million annually. (businesswire.com) Expedia and Booking were among the first travel companies to ship apps into OpenAI’s ChatGPT app ecosystem in October 2025, giving them an existing integration point for discovery inside the ChatGPT UI. (geekwire.com) Inference supported by the above reporting: with OpenAI funneling transactions to third‑party apps and Expedia already expanding B2B APIs and ChatGPT app presence, Expedia is positioned to capture the discovery‑to‑execution handoff by routing ChatGPT referrals into its existing fulfillment and reservation APIs. (hospitality.today)
