Meta's Muse Now Books Expedia Hotels. Expedia Still Sees No Meaningful AI Traffic.

Expedia switched on its Meta Muse link about six weeks after announcing it, and CEO Ariane Gorin told analysts the agent traffic is still too small to draw conclusions.

What the channel costs is as open as what it delivers. Gorin said the economics of the Muse partnership are still being worked out, so the price of the traffic is unsettled alongside its size.

What can Muse do on Expedia?

Travelers describe a destination, dates and hotel preferences in their own words, and Muse surfaces matching Expedia hotels, an Expedia spokesperson said. Expedia stays the merchant of record, so changes after a booking go through its customer support, as they would for a direct booking.

Muse is narrower than the announcement suggested, according to a published report on a limited test. Muse books only pay-now rates, and payment runs through Stripe Link even when a traveler links an Expedia account. Pay-at-property listings send the agent to Expedia’s own site. Linking an account is optional but unlocks member pricing, and one listing dropped by more than $100 against guest pricing, the report said.

How much traffic does it bring?

Very little. Gorin called agent traffic high intent and said it does not appear to cut into direct traffic, and the report said Expedia is not yet seeing meaningful AI traffic.

Booking Holdings put a ceiling on its own: referrals from large language models have accelerated in recent weeks but still make up significantly less than 1% of Booking.com’s room nights, CFO Ewout Steenbergen told analysts.

What does Expedia pay for it?

Expedia has not said what Meta earns on a Muse booking or what Expedia pays for the traffic. Muse is not Expedia’s only agent channel: the company has also partnered with Google in AI Mode and is testing OpenAI’s new ad products.

What share of the company’s room nights comes from agent referrals, and what does each one cost to acquire?