Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel has a clear ambition: to build what he calls the “connected trip.” In a recent interview published by McKinsey & Company, Fogel outlines how AI, personalization, and payments infrastructure could redefine the value of an intermediary in travel.
Read the full interview here: https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/travel/our-insights/booking-holdings-ceo-on-building-the-worlds-largest-travel-platform
From hotel OTA to full travel ecosystem
When Fogel became CEO in 2017, around 90 percent of the group’s business was hotel bookings through Booking.com, largely under an agency model where the guest paid the hotel directly. Today, the model has evolved. Booking increasingly charges the guest upfront and pays the hotel later, unlocking “pricing adjustments” and more flexibility.
At the same time, the company has expanded into flights, ground transportation, attractions, fintech services, and insurance. The strategy is clear: move from a single product to an integrated travel platform.
As Fogel puts it, “We are still predominantly doing hotels. But we don’t only use the agency model.”
For hotels, this shift signals two realities. First, Booking is deepening its financial and operational role in transactions. Second, it is building a broader ecosystem that extends far beyond accommodation.
What is the “connected trip”?
Fogel defines the connected trip around simplicity and value. “People want their travel to be easy. They want it to have good value. They don’t want to have to worry about it.”
The problem, he argues, is fragmentation. Flights, hotels, attractions, and transport often operate in silos. “None of the systems currently talk to each other.”
The connected trip aims to fix that. If a flight is delayed or weather disrupts plans, the system should automatically adjust bookings. Ideally, issues would be resolved “before a customer knows a problem is happening.”
His Amsterdam example illustrates this clearly. If it is sunny on Thursday and rainy on Friday, Booking could suggest swapping a museum visit and a canal tour based on forecast data. The goal is not just inspiration, but proactive optimization.
AI and machine learning are central to this ambition. Fogel acknowledges, “We’re not there yet. We’re building it.” Still, he says Booking is already using AI to improve customer service resolution and cross sell relevant services at the right moment.
The intermediary in an AI world
One of the most strategic parts of the interview concerns large language models and AI agents. What if a traveler simply tells an AI assistant to plan a Barcelona weekend under a certain budget?
Fogel does not deny the risk. “There’s certainly always a risk.” But he argues that execution, regulation, and payments complexity are major barriers. Travel, he notes, is “a much more complicated industry than many people realize.”
Currently, “mid 60 percent of our customers come to us directly.” His answer to the AI threat is simple: provide better service, more trust, and higher value than competitors or platforms. “It will always come down to whether you are providing higher value and better service.”
What this means for hotels
For hotels, the connected trip raises important implications.
First, integration will matter more than ever. If platforms aim to anticipate disruptions and optimize experiences in real time, they will require deeper connectivity into PMS, payments, inventory, and operational data.
Second, personalization will increasingly influence visibility and upsell potential. The hotel room alone is no longer the product. It becomes one node in a larger journey.
Third, financial models may continue to evolve. As Booking expands its merchant capabilities, hotels may face greater standardization in payment flows and pricing flexibility.
Fogel’s vision is not just about AI. It is about control of the end to end travel orchestration layer. For hotels, the strategic question is whether to remain a supplier in that ecosystem or to invest in their own connected infrastructure.
The connected trip is not here yet. But if Booking executes on this vision, the competitive battlefield will shift from inventory access to experience orchestration.
