$BKNG also acts as merchant of record.
$GOOGL never wanted to act as merchant of record even when it launched its travel offerings in search. Same will be the case with other LLMs as it brings you under the preview of regulators.
AI will take the path of least resistance.
"Morgan Stanley upgraded Booking Holdings to Overweight from Equal Weight and lifted its price target to $5,500 from $6,150, arguing BKNG remains central to online travel even as agentic tools evolve. The firm contends OTAs will continue to own the customer relationship, data, and merchant-of-record economics, with early agentic workflows largely redirecting traffic back to OTA apps/websites rather than disintermediating them. MS expects the industry structure to remain closer to paid search dynamics, supporting BKNG’s direct mix and long-term margin profile."