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Expedia Says Travelers Plan With AI Agents but Book Direct

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Expedia Says Travelers Plan With AI Agents but Book Direct

Expedia is getting high intent but limited traffic from AI agents. CEO Ariane Gorin said agents are strongest in discovery, while travelers still prefer to book with trusted brands.

The company is expanding its AI partnerships. It partnered with Google in AI Mode, announced a Meta Muse integration and is testing OpenAI’s new ad products. Qantas is the first partner on its agentic template.

Internal AI deployments are producing measurable gains. A Vrbo voice agent resolved more than 15% of inbound contacts in two months. Travelers who used the activity agent were twice as likely to book an activity within seven days.

Travelers increasingly rely on artificial intelligence assistants to plan their trips. Bookings made through those agents have yet to catch up.

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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.”

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.



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