Booking Holdings

Booking Holdings enjoys a significant competitive edge from its scale, network, and brand. Booking.com is the world’s largest online lodging platform by room nights, serving 4 million properties globally).

The combination of this vast supply and its multiple customer-facing brands creates a network effect: more travelers use Booking platforms because of the wide choice and brand reliability, while more hotels supply inventory to the platform to reach a huge audience.

Booking’s loyalty program (‘Genius’) and integrated “connected trip” offerings (cross-selling flights, activities, etc.) help improve customer retention. These intangible advantages (brand, platform, network) are the company’s core moats. They appear durable, but not impregnable. Regulators are scrutinizing some practices (e.g.

EU parity rules) which could erode pricing power between hotels and Booking. Competition (Airbnb, Google Travel, Expedia) is fierce, but Booking’s integrated global presence gives it a sustainable edge. On balance we rate the moat score high but note it is not invincible (e.g. regulatory or technology shifts could weaken it).