During its third-quarter earnings call, Expedia Group detailed priorities for its OpenAI partnership and its plans for artificial intelligence (AI) moving forward.
Last month, OpenAI launched apps within ChatGPT, with brand Expedia and competitor Booking.com as two of its first partners.
When asked about Expedia Group’s strategic approach to this partnership and how it is creating a seamless booking experience for travelers, CEO Ariane Gorin highlighted two main priorities.
“One is all the work on answer engine optimization and making sure that not only are our brands showing up when people are having conversations but also that the content that’s showing up accurately reflects the strong value propositions of our brands,” Gorin said.
“The second is these direct integrations that then drive traffic back to us. And as [with] anything we do, it’s critical that the travelers have a good and seamless experience when they get handed over to us … It’s a fast-moving space. I think this is an area where it’s really important to be on your front foot, getting learnings, experimenting, because a few months down the road, it may look different than it does right now.”
It’s still early days, and so the volume of traffic is still relatively small, even if it’s growing quickly, and the quality seems good.
Ariane Gorin, Expedia Group
She also addressed questions about agentic commerce and the quality of the leads from partner platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini.
“It’s still early days, and so the volume of traffic is still relatively small, even if it’s growing quickly, and the quality seems good,” Gorin said, echoing similar comments made by Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel during the company’s Q3 earnings call last week.
“There’s going to be a question of how do we make sure that as those leads come through, we understand well enough the content of the travelers so that we can give them a personalized experience, which will then lead to more conversion.”
Gorin said Expedia Group is also using AI in its own products to improve personalization and drive growth, and it’s becoming a resource in marketing and partner experiences.
“We’re injecting AI into our partner experiences, whether it’s supply partners or advertisers, and that’s helping improve their content and their targeting, which ultimately gets them a better experience in our marketplace. So, I’m very optimistic,” she said.
Financial results, strength in B2B
Expedia Group reported an 11% increase in booked room nights in Q3 2025, attributed to “the fastest U.S. growth in three years” as well as ongoing international strength.
Revenue was up 9% year over year, driven by an 18% rise in Expedia Group’s B2B sector, while adjusted EBITDA was up 16%. Advertising revenue grew 16% from the same period last year, and direct selling and marketing spend increased 7% year over year to $2 billion.
“Our third quarter results exceeded both our top and bottom-line expectations, reflecting an improved demand environment, disciplined execution and progress on our strategic priorities,” Gorin said.
“We’re building solid momentum across the company, with clear proof points that our strategy is working.”
Total gross bookings were also up 12%, including a 7% increase in B2C gross bookings and a 26% increase in B2B bookings. In the past, B2B has outshone Expedia Group’s B2C arm, and in Q3 2025, Gorin said it “had another fantastic quarter.”
“We grew share with existing partners and added new partners. We released new tools to help our partners more easily identify promotional rates and also launched a new AI-powered trip planner. Specifically, in our travel agency business, we’ve grown the number of agencies we work with, expanded our agent loyalty program and added features like new payment options—all of which have contributed to over $3 billion of bookings year to date.”
According to Gorin, Expedia Group sees “further opportunity” in B2B, where it will continue to invest.
B2C business
Hotels.com and Vrbo, which make up Expedia Group’s B2C business alongside brand Expedia, were strong in Q3, representing an improvement from a downturn in Q2.
“If you look at the performance of Hotels.com and Vrbo, both of which were strong in this quarter, some of that came from platform work that we’ve done,” Gorin said.
The company recently launched loyalty capabilities for the brands, including access to member deals on Vrbo and “high-value program,” Save Your Way, on Hotels.com. The company also expanded its VrboCare guarantee last week.
“A lot came from the work that we’ve been repositioning those brands and executing against that,” Gorin said.