Middle Coast Investing on Booking Holdings Inc.
Thesis
Booking holds valuable hotel supply relationships and broad search visibility. The investor believes AI agents may change the means of ranking and attracting customers, but not the underlying value of the marketplace. Booking is a portfolio position based on the durability of those commercial relationships.
“Does the essence shift? I am still betting the answer is no.”
Key risks
- AI agents may supplant traditional search-driven discovery
- Booking may have to pay for agent-driven placement
- New distribution methods could erode marketplace economics