When a customer has choice and can exercise it with confidence, we see a triple-win: for service providers, the whole market and the customers themselves. This synergy is further amplified by digital technologies and ever growing internet connectivity. …

Direct booking amounted to 63% of overnight stays in 2021 — “When customers are your true north, everyone wins,” argued Frank Vella in a column for Forbes magazine. We are of the same view at Booking.com, and we were glad to see the results of a recent study by Hotellerie Suisse. The bottom line is that a market for accommodations remains…

Welcome to the Booking.com Global Public Affairs blog. Thank you for your interest in our work and positions. — At Booking.com, it is our mission to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. This mission carries with it the responsibility to foster a world worth experiencing for our customers, partners, and communities. We do so by working towards a more sustainable, diverse, inclusive, secure, and fair travel…

In a span of three years (2019–2021), travelers keep $158B of hard-earned cash in their pockets — thanks to online travel agencies like Booking.com. This is how. — Can you imagine a world without OTAs (online travel agencies)? Well, we commissioned Oxford Economics to do just that — to quantify the impact of digital platforms on the travel and tourism sector. Researchers compared two models, a baseline case that captured actual prices between 2019 and 2021 and an…

Hospitality reimagined: navigating the post-pandemic landscape in Europe — Travel is a force for good in the world, and it is also a powerful economic engine. Before the pandemic, World Travel & Tourism Council calculated that the tourism economy accounted for roughly 9% of Europe’s GDP and 10% of employment (38 million jobs). More impressively, the EU is a…

Exploring the pivotal role of independently run accommodations in Europe’s and the growing challenges they face — A lot has been written lately about Europe falling behind economically, in particular in relation to the United States and China. But there is one sector where there is no doubt that Europe remains the global leader: travel and tourism. …

Europe’s success as the world’s favorite destination is rooted in the rich tapestry of its accommodations. How do we preserve it? — A lot has been written lately about Europe falling behind economically, in particular in relation to the United States and China. But there is one sector where there is no doubt that Europe remains the global leader: travel and tourism. …

The US accommodation market is iconic. It’s 1950’s motels lining empty desert roads, sun-soaked Miami beach resorts, old-world luxury with park views and much more besides. No wonder the US is the world’s largest tourism market and its third most visited destination. Even after 3 years of pandemic shutdowns and…

A summary of a ‘true value’ study by KPMG, which finds €3.6 billion net-positive impact of Booking.com in the Netherlands — Booking.com creates a large positive impact in the Netherlands. This is the finding of a new study by consultancy KPMG based on its True Value methodology. This research project provides a holistic assessment of Booking.com’s economic, social and environmental impact in the Netherlands.