Travelers increasingly rely on artificial intelligence assistants to plan their trips. Bookings made through those agents have yet to catch up.
CEO Ariane Gorin said on Expedia Group’s third-quarter earnings call that “agentic AI’s real strength is in discovery.” People still want to book with a trusted brand, she said, “where they know that they’ll be taken care of if something goes wrong.”
Agent traffic is high intent, and third-party data shows Expedia leading in citation share in the U.S. The economics of these partnerships are still being worked out, the company said. Gorin said that agent traffic does not appear to cut into direct traffic. She said it is either incremental or taken from other paid channels. She added that the volume is too small to draw conclusions.
Expedia partnered with Google in AI Mode and announced an integration with Meta Muse. Gorin said it was expected to go live in the U.S. during the call. Muse gets access to Expedia prices and content. It can complete a booking or send the traveler to Expedia. The company is also testing OpenAI’s new ad products.
Expedia said its agentic voice experience on Vrbo resolved over 15% of inbound contacts in its first two months. Gorin said it raised satisfaction scores at a lower cost.
Product teams are moving faster. A small team built an autonomous hotel onboarding agent in less than a quarter. Gorin said that work once took multiple quarters and many more people. In marketing, AI has raised testing velocity.
Conversational agents now sit in the booking flow. An AI compare agent and a property expert agent help travelers weigh hotels without leaving the page. Gorin said that pushes people deeper into the funnel and leads to larger purchases. Travelers who used the new activity agent were twice as likely to book an activity within seven days.
What Else Stood Out
- Qantas is the first partner to use Expedia’s new agentic template. The template combines Expedia’s B2B technology, supply and servicing with a customizable layer, so a partner can build its own traveler experience.
- Expedia rolled out Reserve Now, Pay Later across all of its brands. The option gives travelers more flexibility in planning trips.
- Expedia’s advertising growth slowed to 7% from 13% the prior quarter. CFO Derek Andersen said the company is implementing product changes that give advertisers better campaign tools and lay groundwork for AI-enabled ones.
Expedia grew gross bookings 11% and revenue 12% in the quarter. B2B bookings rose 19%.
