Expedia CEO says AI agents aren't changing booking habits — yet

Expedia CEO Ariane Gorin said Thursday the company hasn’t yet seen artificial intelligence agents affecting the way customers book, but the early signs show potential for an industry shift.

“It’s a great way for people to do inspiration, to do trip planning,” Gorin said in an interview with CNBC. “We haven’t seen it change the way they’re actually doing booking.”

The comments come as personal AI agents like Meta’s Muse and OpenAI’s Dots enter the mainstream, promising to tackle everything from scheduling to shopping for everyday Americans. Opportunities in travel planning and booking could pose a competitive threat to traditional sites like Expedia.

Gorin said Expedia is “working with all of the agents” to make sure it surfaces in AI results, to understand how the agents get information and to make sure that the company has the necessary integrations.

She acknowledged it’s possible that AI agents could develop their own travel programs and eventually claim market share, but she said complexities within the industry — customer service, for example — would be difficult to fully replace with artificial intelligence.

“People were already shopping across a number of places, so the agent can do that in a much easier way,” Gorin said. “But when it comes to actually booking — being confident that the content that you’re getting is right, the amenities are right, the price is right, if something goes wrong, someone’s going to actually either solve it for you, answer the phone, be there for you — I don’t think those agents are going to do it for you, and that’s why people trust Expedia and come to us.”

Shares of Expedia were down about 12% Thursday after the company delivered weaker-than-expected guidance for the fourth quarter on Wednesday. The company forecast revenue of between $3.69 billion and $3.75 billion for the final three months of the year, making the midpoint lower than analyst estimates of $3.74 billion, according to FactSet.

Gorin attributed the “moderation” in Expedia’s fourth-quarter guidance to “geopolitical events in the Middle East and Europe,” the midterm elections and the company moving its fall sale from the fourth quarter to the third quarter. But she noted the company reported a strong third quarter, as total gross bookings rose 11% and revenue climbed 12%.