Booking Holdings CEO compares AI boom to dot-com era

How Glenn Fogel sees both risk and opportunity in travel’s next disruption

Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel believes the rise of generative AI mirrors the early internet era, with both enormous potential and inevitable shakeouts. Drawing on his experience from the dot-com collapse, he emphasized that while valuations may be inflated, AI will ultimately transform travel and society.

Key takeaways

• AI parallels with dot-com era: Fogel likens today’s AI surge to the internet boom of the late 1990s, with similar excitement and risks of overvaluation.
• Lessons from priceline’s survival: Having joined Priceline just before the dot-com crash, Fogel sees strong companies enduring even if bubbles burst.
• Early returns on ai use: Booking reports measurable benefits from AI partnerships with OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Salesforce.
• Concern over high costs: Massive capital expenditures in AI raise questions about long-term returns and sustainability.
• Collaborative approach to ai: Fogel favors partnerships over building proprietary systems, likening it to buying electricity from utilities.
• Agentic ai vision: AI that autonomously handles bookings fits into Booking’s “connected trip” strategy to reduce travel friction across flights, hotels, and activities.

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