Booking Holdings media: how BKNG Ads, KAYAK and OpenTable sell advertising

Booking long ran its brands as separate businesses, and its ad sales followed that pattern. BKNG Ads changes it. Skift reported that partners who once managed a separate relationship with each brand can now buy Booking.com, Priceline and Agoda through one team and one process (Skift, 21 May 2026). The three cover different markets: the 10-K describes Priceline as mainly North American and Agoda as serving mainly Asia-Pacific consumers. KAYAK and OpenTable were not part of the announcement as Skift described it.

Booking.com keeps its data on a short lead. It joined The Trade Desk's travel and hospitality network in June 2026, but as a managed service only. Ben Harrell, Booking.com's managing director in the US, said self-serve data sales are "not the game that we are playing today" (AdExchanger, 17 June 2026). By contrast, Marriott Media opened self-serve segments in the same network. Booking's choice keeps control of how traveller data is used, at the cost of slower access for buyers.

The revenue line needs careful reading. "Advertising and other revenues" mainly comprise KAYAK's referral and advertising income, OpenTable's reservation and subscription fees, and advertising on Booking's other brands (Booking 10-K, FY2025). So the $1,194 million is not a pure media figure. Booking said growth in 2025 and in Q3 2026 came from OpenTable and from advertising at Booking.com. Pure advertising revenue is not disclosed.

Specific BKNG Ads formats, sizes and placements are not published. One related practice is under review in Europe. On 21 October 2026 the European Commission opened proceedings under the Digital Services Act. It is examining whether Booking.com clearly labels, as ads, listings whose providers paid for higher ranking in search (PPC Land, 21 October 2026). Nothing had been decided by 9 November 2026. The rules behind the case are covered in DSA advertising transparency.

Booking's data comes from search and booking behaviour across its travel brands, plus restaurant reservations at OpenTable. About 90% of the group's revenue relates to accommodation reservations (Booking 10-Q, Q3 2026), so hotel and travel intent dominates the data.

Offsite, Booking.com activates audiences in The Trade Desk on a managed basis. Harrell said the work lets Booking.com extend its data beyond its own sites and narrow channel partners such as OpenTable. Advertisers receive campaign results, not traveller records.

Booking has published no measurement method, attribution window or accreditation for its advertising. As a booking platform it can, in principle, match exposure to bookings made on its own sites. Bookings made elsewhere after an ad are outside its view. Ask the BKNG Ads team what it reports, and compare it with retail media measurement standards explained.

1. Choose the brand or brands. Use BKNG Ads for Booking.com, Priceline and Agoda together; approach KAYAK and OpenTable separately.
2. Contact the BKNG Ads team through your Booking account manager. No public sign-up page was found.
3. Ask for formats by market. Priceline and Agoda reach different regions, so confirm placements and volumes per country.
4. Add offsite reach through The Trade Desk. Booking.com runs these campaigns as a managed service.
5. Agree measurement and labelling. Define the booking window, and confirm how paid placements are labelled in each market.

It suits:

• hotels, airlines, car-rental firms and attractions that sell through Booking's brands;
• tourism boards that want reach across North America, Europe and Asia in one deal;
• restaurant brands and food advertisers through OpenTable.

It suits less:

• buyers that want self-serve access to Booking.com data in their own DSP seat;
• advertisers that need a published rate card or minimum spend;
• buyers that need independent measurement.

• BKNG Ads formats, markets, prices and minimum spend.
• Booking's pure advertising revenue, separate from KAYAK referrals and OpenTable fees.
• Whether KAYAK or OpenTable will join BKNG Ads.
• Any official BKNG Ads web page or Booking Holdings release about it.
• The outcome of the EU proceedings opened on 21 October 2026.

1. Booking Holdings Inc., Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1075531/000107553126000009/bkng-20251231.htm
2. Booking Holdings Inc., Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 30 September 2026. https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1075531/000107553126000045/bkng-20260930.htm
3. Skift, "Booking Holdings to Sell Ads Across All Three OTA Brands for the First Time: Exclusive" (21 May 2026). https://skift.com/2026/05/21/booking-holdings-to-sell-ads-across-all-three-ota-brands-for-the-first-time-exclusive/
4. AdExchanger, "The Trade Desk Forms A Travel And Hospitality Media Network" (17 June 2026). https://www.adexchanger.com/marketers/the-trade-desk-forms-a-travel-and-hospitality-media-network/
5. PPC Land, "Booking.com faces EU probe over scams and paid listings not labelled as ads" (21 October 2026). https://ppc.land/booking-com-faces-eu-probe-over-scams-and-paid-listings-not-labelled-as-ads/