Booking's commission is the cheapest thing it takes from you - Booking collects your guest's money now, holds $8.2 billion of it at a time, and pays you weeks later — and unlike your commission rate, nobody negotiated any of it.

Jul 31, 2026 • Hospitality

Airbnb added your hotel to stop travelers from leaving its app - Thousands of independent hotels are now bookable inside the Airbnb app, and every featured hotel booking hands the guest credit toward a home — the fine print on what your rooms are really for.

Jul 31, 2026 • Hospitality

Trip.com just put a number on what squeezing hotels was worth to it - The bot that held hotels to the lowest price online is gone — and Trip.com's sales growth fell from 17% to as little as 3%.

Jul 31, 2026 • Hospitality

Money buys the booking, not the recommendation — and Marriott's about to prove it - Marriott's CEO says he'll reward AI agents to win the booking; OpenAI's says paying to rank a worse hotel is "catastrophic".

Jul 31, 2026 • Hospitality

San Francisco sued the sites faking your hotel's page. Booking supplied them. - Two middlemen pose as hotel websites and charge up to 85% more with no refunds — and the city says Booking Holdings gave them the rooms and the checkout.

Jul 31, 2026 • Hospitality