Booking.com: AI, the Secret Weapon to Dominate the Competition

AI in Competitive Analysis at Booking.com

James Waters, the Chief Commercial Officer of Booking.com, recently shared one of his favorite tips for utilizing artificial intelligence. He uses it to analyze the strategic approaches of his competitors, a task that would take several days of work without AI. Waters, who oversees various aspects such as product development, explained that AI significantly simplifies this research process.

Booking.com is also striving to track the expenses associated with AI while seeking to provide its teams with a better understanding of token usage. To this end, James Waters has established a new team dedicated to competitive research, utilizing AI models like Claude, Gemini, and ChatGPT. In an interview with Business Insider, he revealed that one of his favorite prompts is to ask AI models to break down the strategies of competitors, digital platforms, and tech companies in the face of major strategic challenges.

“For me, it’s extremely powerful,” he stated. “Theoretically, I could conduct this research myself, but it would take days.” Recently, he used Claude from Anthropic to analyze customer reviews, examining how they are presented on other platforms, summarized, and weighted. “This type of research is particularly useful for me: it helps synthesize a broad strategic landscape in record time, allowing me to delve deeper where necessary,” he added.

The Impact of AI on the Travel Industry

The travel industry, like many other sectors, is undergoing a transformation thanks to AI. This technology is not only changing how travelers discover travel sites but also how these companies operate internally. Booking.com has introduced AI agents to assist customers in searching for and planning their trips, integrating these tools into its connected travel strategy, known as Connected Trip.

The company collaborates with tech leaders like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon to develop AI tools. Among these collaborations is the AI Trip Planner with OpenAI and a partnership with Anthropic that allows Claude users to book trips directly within conversations.

Managing AI Expenses at Booking.com

James Waters, who also oversees product development, marketing, customer service, business operations, and technology, emphasized that the most notable impact of AI is in engineering, where developers are producing more code. HR and finance teams are also using tools like Claude Code for forecasting and financial analysis.

The corporate culture is evolving to adapt to these changes. “Culturally, we are trying to maintain a balance of 80% enthusiasm for new possibilities and 20% caution regarding the risk that others may capture our customers if we fail,” he explained.

Like many companies, Booking.com closely monitors its AI expenses. Uber executives recently mentioned that their company had exceeded its budget for Claude Code for 2026, making it difficult to justify token expenditures. Waters clarified that Booking.com evaluates its total investment in tokens and personnel against the value generated.

“I don’t think it’s crucial to spend a lot on tokens if it generates significant value in the long run,” he stated. “The problem arises when these two elements do not align.”

The company is closely tracking token usage and is considering using less expensive models for simpler tasks. Currently, it is contemplating how to give product teams better visibility into their expenses and returns. “This is definitely a concern,” he said. “I don’t think it will become unmanageable for us at this time.”

For Waters, managing AI expenses is not very different from managing cloud expenses 12 or 18 months ago. “The scale of expenses could increase much more rapidly if we don’t do it thoughtfully,” he concluded.