Investors, employees, hotels and airlines have become increasingly single-minded in their conversations with Expedia chief executive Ariane Gorin. Everyone wants to talk about AI.In its annual report in February, Expedia for the first time cited advances in generative AI and the rise of “agentic” autonomous bots capable of actions such as booking holidays as a risk to its business. Rival technology companies and new start-ups “may deploy AI-driven travel search, planning, and booking capabilities more effectively or rapidly than we can”, it admitted.Expedia, the world’s second-largest online travel company after Booking Holdings, with a market value of about US$32 billion (S$41.31 billion), makes most of its money by charging commissions and fees on hotel, flight and rental car reservations. But the rise of AI is making it easier to access and compare hotels and airlines directly, and some analysts say this could allow holidaymakers to bypass online travel agents or at least increase competition and suppress their margins.Gorin insists the technology will be “a growth opportunity” that will “give our teams superpowers and . . . help travellers make better decisions”. In the first quarter of 2026, Expedia’s gross bookings jumped by 13 per cent to US$35.5 billion, while revenue rose 15 per cent to US$3.4 billion.“Everyone in the industry is figuring out how we can use AI . . . and I feel like it’s similar to what happened in Covid, where you had companies that were competing against each other actually come together and say, ‘You know what: how do we work together to convince governments to open borders?’” she says.“There’s something similar right now in the industry as I talk to colleagues and peers where people [are] really trying to say, ‘What are you finding? How are you using it? What are the real opportunities?’ Because there’s so much hype out there.”The French-American dual national was appointed chief executive in May 2024, taking charge of Expedia’s more than 16,000 employees and network of travel-booking sites — including the three crown-jewel brands Expedia, Hotels.com and short-term rental platform Vrbo — just as global adoption of AI accelerated.She was recruited to the company in 2013 after a decade working for Microsoft, which launched Expedia in 1996 before spinning it out a few years later, and previously led Expedia’s business-to-business arm, then its fastest-growing segment, from London.Taking the top job meant relocating to the company’s headquarters in Seattle, where one of Gorin’s first actions was to move the office her predecessor had occupied deep in one of the building’s wings. Her new office is “right in the centre of the campus” with a large window overlooking a communal area, a change aimed at being present for staff. “I see people and they see me. We can run into each other.” One employee describes it as a “fishbowl”.