Booking Holdings plans job cuts as part of raft of organisational changes

NEW YORK – Booking Holdings is planning organisational changes and job cuts as part of a raft of measures aimed at freeing up resources and improving its operating expenses budget.

The online travel company said in a statement on Nov 8 that it will be “modernising processes and systems”, pursuing real estate savings and “optimising” its procurement processes on top of reducing its workforce.

“We believe these efforts will improve operating expense efficiency, increase organisational agility, free up resources that can be reinvested into further improving our offering to both travellers and partners,” said the parent company of almost a dozen travel brands including Kayak and Priceline.

It is the second time in four years that the company is resizing its workforce.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, Booking eliminated thousands of jobs. As many as 25 per cent of staff at Booking.com, the company’s biggest business, were affected, the company said at the time.

The company began expanding its workforce again in 2022, however, and has added as many as 4,000 jobs since then, data compiled by Bloomberg shows. 

Booking’s move to restructure its business comes barely a week after it raised its full-year gross bookings outlook and reported third-quarter room nights booked that beat analysts’ expectations, sending its shares soaring.

Two of its rivals, online reservation companies Airbnb and Expedia Group, also issued stronger-than-expected outlooks that suggest growth is not slowing as fast as they thought it would, in part thanks to international demand.

Just months ago, Expedia chief executive Ariane Gorin had warned travel demand would soften. The company had cut its guidance twice in 2024 before its latest earnings report. But as the summer progressed, demand picked up again with international markets in the lead, Ms Gorin said during an investor call on Nov 7.

Expedia said customers booked a total of 97.4 million nights on its travel websites, which include Expedia.com and Hotels.com.

It is raising its full-year gross bookings growth guidance to 5 per cent from 4 per cent. Its shares rose to their highest levels since 2022 on Nov 8.

Airbnb, which also reported on Nov 7, said third-quarter nights booked and adjusted earnings beat expectations.

It added that its key metric of nights and experiences booked will accelerate this quarter, with the growth rate expected to exceed the 8.5 per cent achieved in the last period.

Airbnb shares fell, though, as the company also warned of margin compression due to increased spending on marketing and product development. BLOOMBERG