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US: Expedia Group CEO Ariane Gorin has said artificial intelligence presents a growth opportunity rather than a threat to online travel agencies, despite the company acknowledging the rise of agentic AI as a competitive risk.
Speaking to the Financial Times, Gorin said AI would help travellers make better decisions and improve productivity across Expedia’s business, while maintaining that consumers will continue to value trusted travel brands for complex purchases such as holidays.
Her comments come after Expedia identified advances in generative AI and autonomous “agentic” booking tools as a potential competitive risk in its latest annual report, warning that rival technology companies and start-ups could deploy AI-powered travel search and booking capabilities more quickly.
Despite those risks, Gorin described AI as “a growth opportunity” for the company.
Gorin also revealed AI is already improving internal operations, with meeting briefings and account research that previously took employees around an hour now being completed “at the click of a button”.
Alongside its AI strategy, Expedia has been refocusing its consumer brands, including short-term rental platform Vrbo. Gorin said Vrbo and Hotels.com had previously lost momentum after an emphasis on technology upgrades reduced the distinctiveness of each brand, but both returned to growth before the end of 2025 following organisational changes.
Addressing concerns that AI-powered travel assistants could eventually bypass online travel agencies altogether, Gorin argued that travellers would continue to seek trusted platforms capable of managing bookings, cancellations, customer support and loyalty programmes.
The company is also expanding AI-powered features for travellers, including conversational trip planning tools, although Gorin believes many consumers will continue to enjoy planning holidays themselves rather than relying entirely on autonomous AI agents.
Highlights
- Expedia CEO Ariane Gorin said AI represents a growth opportunity rather than a threat for online travel agencies.
- Expedia recently identified agentic AI booking tools as a potential competitive risk in its annual report.
- Gorin said AI is already improving productivity across the business by automating internal tasks.
- Expedia’s short-term rental platform Vrbo returned to growth after the company repositioned its consumer brands.
- The company believes travellers will continue to value trusted booking platforms despite advances in AI
