What Is Booking.com?

Booking.com is an online travel agency (OTA) where travelers reserve places to stay, and the world's leading brand for booking accommodation online, based on room nights booked. Properties register for free and pay a commission on each booking instead (Booking Holdings Inc. Form 10-K FY2025) (Booking.com Join FAQ).

Last updated: October 2026

How Booking.com works

When Priceline.com bought the Amsterdam company, then called Bookings B.V., in July 2005, it described it as one of Europe's leading internet hotel reservation services, working with chain and independent hotels (Priceline.com acquires Bookings B.V. (SEC 8-K exhibit, 14 Jul 2005)). Today most of the properties on Booking.com are alternative accommodations: homes, apartments and other unique places to stay (Booking Holdings Inc. Form 10-K FY2025). The Booking Holdings factsheet (page updated October 2026) gives about 4.7 million properties, of which 4.1 million are alternative accommodations, representing more than 33 million listings (Booking Holdings Factsheet). At the end of 2025, Booking.com offered stays in over 220 countries and territories, according to Booking Holdings' annual report (Booking Holdings Inc. Form 10-K FY2025).

Bookings reach a property in two ways. In agency bookings, Booking Holdings does not take the traveler's payment and earns a commission on the reservation (Booking Holdings Inc. Form 10-K FY2025). In merchant bookings, Booking Holdings takes the traveler's payment for the stay (Booking Holdings Inc. Form 10-K FY2025). Booking.com can collect guest payments on a partner's behalf, with daily payouts and the Payments Service Fee waived for 2026 (Booking.com Join FAQ). The two models have their own page, merchant model vs agency model, and typical rates are covered under OTA commission.

Genius is Booking.com's loyalty program, which Booking Holdings is expanding across travel verticals; its levels and discounts, and what joining means for a property, are covered on Booking.com Genius (Booking Holdings Inc. Form 10-K FY2025).

Why it matters for hotel distribution

Across Booking Holdings, 1.2 billion room nights were booked in 2025, up 8% on the year before (Booking Holdings Factsheet). Growth continued into 2026: group room nights rose 5% in the second quarter, and alternative accommodation room nights at Booking.com rose 4% (Booking Holdings Q2 2026 earnings release (Form 8-K)).

European hotels depend on it more than on any other OTA. Booking.com held 66.1% of OTA bookings at European hotels in HOTREC's 2026 distribution study (HOTREC study coverage (Travel Extra, 2026-09-21)). The study surveyed 2,713 European hotels and was run with HES-SO Valais-Wallis (HOTREC study coverage (Travel Tomorrow, 2026-09-16)).

Regulation has changed the terms in Europe. The European Commission designated Booking Holdings a Digital Markets Act gatekeeper for Booking.com on 13 May 2024, and since 14 November 2024 hotels can offer better prices and conditions on other online channels, including their own websites (Booking must comply with the Digital Markets Act (European Commission)). Booking.com has changed its contracts to drop parity arrangements in the European Economic Area (Booking Holdings Inc. Form 10-K FY2025). Those changes apply in the EU and EEA only; the wider question of rate parity is covered on the blog.

For vacation rental managers, a property management system connected to Booking.com can sync rates and availability automatically across all their channels (Booking.com glossary entry (vendor)).

Booking.com compared with Expedia, Airbnb, Vrbo and direct booking

Booking.com competes for the same guests with another OTA group, with rental platforms, with travel search and with the hotel's own website.

ChannelHow it relates to Booking.com
Expedia GroupOne of the two largest OTA groups: with Booking Holdings, it takes more than 85% of OTA bookings in Europe
AirbnbNamed by Booking Holdings as a direct competitor to its accommodation businesses
VrboOwned by Expedia and also named as a direct competitor
GoogleNamed as a competitor in travel search
Direct bookingAbout half (51.3%) of European hotel bookings are made directly with the hotel

Expedia Group and direct booking rows: HOTREC study coverage (Travel Tomorrow, 2026-09-16). Airbnb, Vrbo and Google rows: Booking Holdings Inc. Form 10-K FY2025. Expedia has its own page, what is Expedia.

Frequently asked questions

What industry is Booking.com in?
Online travel. Booking.com sells accommodation reservations online and is part of Booking Holdings. It was founded in Amsterdam in 1996 as Bookings.nl and took the Booking.com name after the Priceline Group, now Booking Holdings, acquired it.
What is the site used for?
Travelers use it to search for, compare and book a place to stay, whether a hotel room, an apartment or a whole home. Properties use it to sell their rooms and homes to those travelers.
What is its business model?
Accommodation reservations drive both of Booking Holdings' revenue lines. Its agency revenue comes almost entirely from Booking.com accommodation reservations, and the majority of its merchant revenue does too. How agency and merchant bookings differ for a property is set out above, under How Booking.com works.
What is the cancellation policy for properties?
When a guest cancels under a free cancellation policy, the guest pays nothing and the property pays no commission. Guests who do not show up carry no commission either, unless the property has set up a no-show charge. Each property's own cancellation terms decide what the guest pays.

Related terms

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Where Jetstream fits

Every channel a property sells through, Booking.com included, needs the same rooms, rates and availability. Jetstream builds distribution technology that connects a property's inventory to those channels and keeps it accurate on each of them, managed from one place.

See Jetstream's AI channel manager Book a demo