Booking.com

Legal Name: Booking Holdings, Inc.
Brands: Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, Kayak, OpenTable
Founded: 1996 (as Priceline)
Headquarters: Norwalk, Connecticut, USA
Type: Public
Categories: Online travel booking
Markets: Operates in 220+ countries worldwide
Parent: None (independent)

Overview: Booking Holdings is the world’s largest online travel company. It operates five leading travel websites – Booking.com (lodging), Priceline (discount travel), Agoda (Asia travel), Kayak (meta-search), and OpenTable (dining) – serving leisure and business travelers globally. The company’s platforms aggregate flights, hotels, rental cars and activities, connecting consumers with travel suppliers. Booking has steadily expanded through strategic acquisitions (e.g. buying Kayak in 2013 and OpenTable in 2014) and now reports billions in annual bookings. In 2025, Booking Holdings continued to grow its global footprint, reinforcing its leadership in the online travel booking market.

Products and Services: Booking’s core product is lodging reservations via its brands (online and mobile). It also offers full-service car rental reservations and flight bookings. Corporate customers use its business travel solutions. The company runs an OTA Distribution arm, selling hotel and travel inventory to other agencies and websites. Structurally, Booking Holdings is the publicly traded parent, with subsidiaries for each brand (e.g. Booking.com Ltd., Priceline Travel). It maintains a global network of offices and call centers to support its platforms. All brands use shared technology (payment processing, customer service) developed in-house.

Key Dates:
– 1997: Priceline launches (later renamed Booking Holdings).
– 2005: Acquires Booking.com (Netherlands), becoming global.
– 2012: Announces acquisition of Kayak ($1.8B).
– 2014: Announces acquisition of OpenTable ($2.6B).
– 2018: Rebrands as Booking Holdings; continues expansion of Booking.com service.
– 2020: Acquires Rentalcars.com and other travel services, strengthening presence.
– 2024: Reports over $20B in annual gross bookings and broadens airline/car rental partnerships.
– 2025: Launches new loyalty products and strengthens AI personalization in its apps.