Expedia's CEO Says AI Agents Win at Discovery, but Travelers Still Book With Brands

AI agents so far send Expedia Group travelers who are either new or shifted from its other paid channels, not ones who would have come direct, CEO Ariane Gorin told analysts on the company’s third-quarter call.

If that holds, agents sit closer to the marketing budget than to the direct channel, and the price of that line is open: the economics of the agent partnerships are still being worked out, Gorin said. For now, the booking still lands in Expedia’s own app. The Muse link lets a traveler finish it inside the agent instead.

What does Muse get?

Expedia’s link hands Meta’s Muse agent its prices and content, so a traveler can either book inside Muse or be sent to Expedia to finish there. Gorin expected the U.S. link to go live during the call itself.

Which of the two paths Muse users take is what Expedia wants to learn early. The stake is the direct business: two-thirds of Expedia’s bookings come direct. Expedia also partnered with Google on AI Mode in Google Search but did not describe what that partnership does.

What is the agent traffic worth?

Gorin called the traffic “high intent” but “so small” that “it’s hard to draw any conclusions.” Third-party data put Expedia first in U.S. citation share. Gorin cautioned that the models change often, so a share built on so little traffic can swing widely.

She expects the agent platforms to become customer-acquisition channels on good terms, as big advertising and tech platforms have been for Expedia before. The same approach covers OpenAI’s new ad products, which Expedia is testing; Gorin said it may accept lower returns there than from more established products. Gorin believes many of these new AI products will become big channels for Expedia.

Expedia did not say how much of its $34 billion in third-quarter gross bookings came through agents, or on what terms Meta and Google send it travelers.

Where do agents already pay?

Inside Expedia’s own operations. A voice agent in Vrbo’s customer service resolved more than 15% of inbound contacts in its first two months. It lifted satisfaction scores and cut servicing costs, though Expedia gave no figures for either.

A small team also built an autonomous hotel onboarding agent in less than a quarter; a project like that once took several quarters and many more people. Gorin tied those gains to Expedia’s margin expansion. For the agent channel, Expedia has given no number at all.

Could the company tell, from its own data, whether a booking an agent found replaced a direct booking or a paid one?