- In today’s CEO Daily: Diane Brady talks to Ariane Gorin, CEO of Expedia Group.
- The big story: U.S. sending more troops to the Caribbean.
- The markets: A mixed bag following a new all-time high in U.S. stocks.
- Plus: All the news and watercooler chat from Fortune.
Good morning. The holidays feel like a good time to check in with Ariane Gorin, CEO of Expedia Group. 2025 has been a banner year for travel and for Expedia, which saw its revenues rise 7.6% to $13.4 billion in the 12 months ending Sept. 30, with its stock up more than 50% so far this year. In the latest episode of Fortune’s Leadership Next, Gorin spoke to me and Kristin Stoller about the evolving travel landscape and how she’s leading in this tricky climate.
AI is reshaping the travel experience as many of us turn to large language models to plan and even pay for trips. That presents both an opportunity and a potential threat for leaders like Gorin—and Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel, with whom we spoke earlier this year. The opportunity: to deploy AI internally and forge partnerships that embed the group’s Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo functionality within the LLMs. The risk: hallucinations, privacy violations, and the specter of LLMs reducing the need for travel sites or turning them into invisible pipes that consumers never see.
“We’ve been working for years with Google and Bing … and now it’s about deepening our partnerships,” said Gorin, adding that AI has enabled innovation like Expedia’s new trip-matching feature that turns Instagram reels into bookable travel experiences. “It’s been quite fun to challenge ourselves to say, ‘how do we make sure that our brands are showing up well there?’”
Gorin also talks about building up Brand USA among foreigners during this delicate time when former stalwarts (hello, Canada!) may be staying away and events from the World Cup to America’s 250th anniversary are expected to boost tourism. Her approach is to start with telling the story that Americans are “making it welcoming, that we’re making the infrastructure welcoming, we’re making it easy to come to the country.”
That’s a message many leaders would love to rally around.You can listen to our conversation on Apple or Spotify. Also, the CEO Daily team is taking a break for the holidays. See you back here on January 5. As always, we welcome your thoughts and appreciate you reading what we write. Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at [email protected]
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