New York, March 6, 2026, 09:32 EST
- Booking Holdings rose about 8% on Thursday after a report said OpenAI is pulling back from direct checkouts in ChatGPT
- U.S. House investigators also asked Booking.com and others to explain whether they use AI to set individualized prices
- Booking.com separately pointed to a Dutch court ruling backing key parts of its position in a hotel dispute in Europe
Booking Holdings (BKNG.O) jumped about 8% on Thursday after a report said OpenAI is scaling back plans to build direct bookings into ChatGPT, easing a worry that chatbots could cut out online travel agencies. Expedia (EXPE.O) gained more than 12% and Tripadvisor (TRIP.O) rose about 5%. Bernstein analyst Richard Clarke called the development “incrementally positive” for online travel agencies in a note. 1
Why it matters now: investors have been trying to price a fast shift in how people plan trips, with chat-based search and “agent” tools threatening to reroute traffic away from travel apps and the ads that feed them.
For Booking and its peers, that fear is simple: if a chatbot becomes the front door, the middleman gets squeezed. Anything that suggests the chatbot still needs partners, or still pushes users back into apps, buys time.
The report, published by The Information, said OpenAI found that users were researching products in ChatGPT but not completing purchases there. Instead, it would focus on checkouts inside third-party apps that plug into ChatGPT, the report said, citing an OpenAI spokesperson.
OpenAI did not respond to a Reuters request for comment. Booking and Expedia were among the first companies to integrate with ChatGPT when OpenAI launched its plugins program in 2023.
The bounce in Booking’s shares came as Washington turned up the pressure on algorithmic pricing. The chair of the U.S. House Oversight Committee asked the CEOs of five companies — including Booking.com — to disclose whether they use “surveillance pricing,” which means using personal data to set individualized prices rather than a standard price. 2
In letters, Representative James Comer said the approach could create chances “for companies to weaponize personal data and pad their profit margins,” and asked for documents by March 19, including details on revenue-management algorithms and their financial impact.
Some companies pushed back. Uber said fares depend on location, time and demand, not a customer’s characteristics or past behavior. Expedia said it does not increase prices based on user data or activity, and Instacart said it does not engage in surveillance pricing.
Booking Holdings owns Booking.com, Priceline and Kayak, and sells hotel rooms, vacation rentals and travel services across markets where regulators and lawmakers have been circling platform power and pricing practices for years.
In Europe, Booking.com this week pointed to an Amsterdam District Court ruling that it said upheld key parts of its position in a German case over past “price parity” clauses — contract terms that limited hotels’ ability to offer lower rates elsewhere. “We are pleased the Amsterdam Court has upheld many of our key arguments,” said Maria Barros, Booking.com’s chief legal and public affairs officer. 3
But the AI relief trade has a short shelf life. OpenAI’s plans could change, rivals may still push harder into travel planning, and lawmakers’ questions on pricing tools could widen into formal investigations or new disclosure rules, raising compliance costs and reputational risk for consumer-facing platforms.
