Booking Holdings Makes Major Pivot Toward Merchant Hotel Bookings
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Nearly two years ago, when Booking Holdings appointed Glenn Fogel as its CEO, analysts would have never have expected the company to tilt toward brand marketing or make a big push toward the merchant hotel model.
That's because Booking.com, the parent company's biggest brand, grew up since its early days a decade-and-a-half ago on paid marketing through sites like Google, and scaled its business on the agency, or pay at the hotel, business model.
But there's a dramatic shift under way. In its third quarter financial results announced Monday, Booking Holdings revealed that its merchant hotel revenue jumped 53.4 percent to nearly $1.05 billion while its agency revenue grew less than one percent to $3.54 billion.