Inside Booking’s View on AI and STR

Glenn Fogel is the President and CEO of Booking Holdings, the parent company of Booking.com, Priceline, Kayak and other global brands that shape how the world travels. With more than two decades at the forefront of online travel, he has guided Booking through major industry shifts, emerging technologies and changing traveler behavior.

In this episode, Simon Lehmann speaks with Glenn about how AI, search and short-term rentals are redefining the future of travel. Glenn explains why STR is now central to Booking’s long-term strategy, how traveler expectations are evolving, and why the Connected Trip vision depends on both technology and human judgment.

This conversation offers a clear view of how one of the most influential leaders in travel sees the road ahead and what operators need to understand as the industry moves into a new phase.

In this conversation, we discuss:

• How AI is reshaping travel search through natural-language queries, proactive trip planning and Booking’s early work with OpenAI, Google Gemini and other models.
• Why short-term rentals are now a core growth engine for Booking.com, representing 36% of room nights and outpacing hotel inventory growth globally.
• What the Connected Trip means for travelers and how Booking plans to reduce friction with predictive tools, better timing, automated fixes and personalized recommendations.
• The strategic challenges in the US and Asia and how Booking is rebuilding its STR product to win listings, improve quality and meet rising market expectations.
• The rising role of FinTech in travel including payments, fraud prevention, cancellations, insurance and cross-border settlement designed to reduce friction for partners and guests.
• How regulation, consumer behavior and post-pandemic trends are reshaping STR supply, demand patterns and the long-term future of global travel.