And right now we are 2 minutes away from the end of the trading day. Romaine Bostick here with Katie Greipel taking you through to that closing bell with the global simulcast Carol Massar and Tim Stenovec pop up on the screen. Welcome to our audiences across all of our Bloomberg platforms.That's television, that's radio. That's our partnership with YouTube passing the most crucial moments of the day. Carol Massar Yes, we had a little bit of a rebound rally here on the day, some of the gains being given back ...

Core Insights - Artificial intelligence is transforming hotel room search and booking processes, with platforms like DirectBooker providing AI agents real-time access to hotel rates and availability [1] - Online travel agencies such as Booking Holdings, Expedia, and TripAdvisor are well-positioned to leverage AI-driven booking [1] AI Impact on Travel - Investors are increasingly anticipating that AI agents will autonomously book hotels, although technical challenges exist that necessitate intermediaries [3] Market Fragmentation - The global hotel market is highly fragmented, with over 1.1 million hotels, while the top 15 chains only account for about 4% of total supply [4] - Aggregating long-tail inventory is a significant challenge for AI platforms, a problem that Booking and Expedia have been addressing for decades [4] Competitive Landscape - Lower-cost distribution may attract hotels to newer aggregation platforms, but speed and scale still favor established incumbents like Booking and Expedia [5] Monetization Strategies - AI monetization is expected to resemble paid search auction models, rewarding platforms with the widest selection and highest conversion efficiency [6] - TripAdvisor benefits from extensive hotel content and brand trust, but transactional scale continues to favor Booking and Expedia [6] Valuation Outlook - For Booking Holdings, a 12-month price forecast of $6,250 is set, based on a 2026 price-to-earnings multiple of 25, reflecting earnings growth similar to large-cap internet peers [7] - Expedia's forecast of $275 corresponds to a 17-times multiple on 2026 GAAP EPS, aligned with an expected EPS growth rate of approximately 25% [7]