Earned & PaidBooking Holdings
Booking Holdings spent $8.19B on advertising and marketing in fiscal 2025, up 12.5% on the year before and +65% since 2019. That's 30.4% of revenue, less than in 2019: the business outgrew its marketing.
Marketing spend by year
Bars: advertising and marketing expense, $B (10-K). Line: spend as a share of revenue.
What they told investors
“Smart filters have now been rolled out globally in accommodations and we are beginning to extend and test these capabilities within the cars vertical.”Glenn Fogel · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“some of these players would go towards a performance marketing platform that we thought would be very advantageous to us given the experiences we've been able to deal with at Google”management · 2026 Q1 · transcript
“Marketing as a percentage of gross bookings in 2025 was 4.4%, similar to 2024 as growth in our direct channel was offset by our decision to invest in traditional performance marketing and social media channels at attractive ROIs.”Ewout Steenbergen · 2025 Q4 · transcript
“First, I think it's important to look at the marketing deleverage in the context of a quarter where we delivered 19% EBITDA growth and expanded EBITDA margins by 80 basis points.”management · 2025 Q4 · transcript
“In the quarter, we saw opportunities to achieve incremental demand at attractive ROIs in traditional performance marketing channels in addition to higher brand marketing expenses versus a comparatively lower level of spend a year ago.”Ewout Steenbergen · 2025 Q4 · transcript
“for 2026, what we have said is that we aim to achieve marketing leverage again unless, of course, we find those really great opportunistic moments that we can lean in again in this year.”Ewout Steenbergen · 2025 Q4 · transcript
What the 10-K says about marketing
- investing in brand “• continuing to increase brand awareness and localization in key geographies such as Asia and the U.S.;” 10-K, Feb 18, 2026
- investing in brand “We have established widely used and recognized e-commerce brands through marketing campaigns and strategic use of performance marketing spend. We invest in marketing and other brand building to preserve and enhance consumer awareness of our brands.” 10-K, Feb 18, 2026
- investing in brand “We invest considerable resources in the establishment and maintenance of our brands, marketing and other brand building efforts to preserve and enhance consumer awareness of our brands, and to attract and retain consumers. Performance marketing costs to grow traffic to our…” 10-K, Feb 18, 2026
- measurement “Our marketing efficiency, expressed as marketing expense as a percentage of gross bookings, and performance marketing return on investment ("ROIs") are impacted by a number of factors that are subject to variability and are in some cases outside of our control, including ADRs,…” 10-K, Feb 18, 2026
- measurement “The cancellation rate in 2025 was lower than the prior year. Because we recognize revenues from bookings when the traveler checks in, our reported revenues are not at risk of being reversed due to cancellations. Increases in cancellation rates can negatively impact our marketing…” 10-K, Feb 18, 2026
Say vs do
Of the 2 statements about its marketing budget that the filings can check, 2 held up.
What they said
“Our total performance and brand marketing expenses, which are substantially variable in nature, were $8.2 billion in 2025, up 12.5% versus 2024 as a result of the year-over-year growth in travel demand and due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates.”
The FY2025 10-K, Feb 18, 2026 · 10-K
Backed by the filings Filed marketing spend, FY2024 → FY2025: $7.28B → $8.19B (+12.5%)
“Our marketing expenses, which are substantially variable in nature, increased year-over-year in 2025 to help drive additional gross bookings and revenues, and were increased by changes in foreign currency exchange rates. Marketing expenses as a percentage of total gross bookings…”
The FY2025 10-K, Feb 18, 2026 · 10-K
Backed by the filings Filed marketing spend, FY2024 → FY2025: $7.28B → $8.19B (+12.5%)
“In the quarter, we saw opportunities to achieve incremental demand at attractive ROIs in traditional performance marketing channels in addition to higher brand marketing expenses versus a comparatively lower level of spend a year ago.”
Ewout Steenbergen on the 2025 Q4 earnings call, Feb 18, 2026 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings It's about part of a year; filings report full years.
“The team described "meaningful expansion" in the attractions vertical in Q3 2025, according to Ewout Steenbergen, and highlighted high-growth performance marketing investments in "a couple of hundreds of millions" according to Ewout Steenbergen in social media, though still a…”
FX Impact, Foreign exchange benefited growth rates by 400-500 basis points. on the 2025 Q3 earnings call, Oct 29, 2025 · transcript
Can't tell from annual filings It's about part of the business; filings report one company-wide number.
What they did
| Year | Marketing spend | Change | Share of revenue |
|---|---|---|---|
| FY2025 | $8.19B | +12.5% | 30.4% |
| FY2024 | $7.28B | +7.5% | 30.7% |
| FY2023 | $6.77B | +13.0% | 31.7% |
| FY2022 | $5.99B | +57.7% | 35.1% |
| FY2021 | $3.80B | +74.4% | 34.7% |
| FY2020 | $2.18B | -56.1% | 32.1% |
Against its peers. Compared with the 5 other Travel advertisers we track (Expedia, Airbnb, Marriott, Royal Caribbean, Carnival): since 2019 its marketing spend went +65% (peer median +18%); its share of revenue moved -2.6 pts (median -1.4); last year +12.5% (median +0.6%).
How we check: a statement gets a verdict only when it's clearly about the size of the whole company's marketing budget over a full fiscal year; we compare it with the advertising and marketing expense in that year's 10-K. Statements about one quarter, one brand or channel, or the mix between brand and performance can't be checked against annual filings.
What they say about media
The marketing channels it talks about using for itself on earnings calls and in its 10-Ks and 10-Qs, since 2019; counts are statements, not spending.
- Paid search · Affiliate & lead gen “Our performance marketing expenses, which represent a substantial majority of our marketing expenses, are primarily related to the use of online search engines (primarily Google), affiliate marketing (i.e., business-to-business or "B2B"), meta search, and social media channels…” 10-Q · Aug 4, 2026 · source
- Measurement “Excluding the impact of the Middle East conflict, we achieved modest marketing leverage in the quarter, supported by the growth in our direct channel, which was partially offset by declines in SEO, which remains a small component of our overall distribution mix.” 10-Q · Apr 28, 2026 · source
- AI in marketing “We are incredibly excited about the same -- and maybe recall our last call where I mentioned the possibility or belief that some of these players would go towards a performance marketing platform that we thought would be very advantageous to us given the experiences we've been…” Glenn Fogel on the earnings call · Apr 28, 2026 · source
- Paid social “We also continue to make disciplined investments in social media channels at attractive ROIs.” Ewout Steenbergen on the earnings call · Feb 18, 2026 · source
- Sponsorships & athletes “• continuing to increase brand awareness in key markets such as the U.S., including through high-profile sponsorships in the U.S.;” 10-K · Feb 20, 2025 · source
What they see in the market
What its leaders and filings say about the ad market: its own ad business, or the channels advertisers use, since 2019; counts are statements, not spending.
- Paid search “They've made very good money setting up an auction format for taking advertising, and we have been more than happy to pay a lot of money as have competitors of us.” Glenn Fogel on the earnings call · Feb 18, 2026 · source
- Retail media “Where the things we're doing in terms of providing advertising opportunities for our partner.” Glenn Fogel on the earnings call · Oct 29, 2025 · source
- CRM, loyalty & first-party data “Today, this line is mostly coming from KAYAK and OpenTable, but there are opportunities, of course, to think about more advertising income from particularly the apps and the active app use that we're having mostly with Agoda and Booking.com.” Ewout Steenbergen on the earnings call · Aug 1, 2024 · source
- Affiliate & lead gen “In addition, if OTCs or travel service providers choose not to advertise with KAYAK or choose to reduce or eliminate the fees paid to KAYAK for referrals from query results, KAYAK's business and results of operations could be adversely affected.” 10-K · Feb 23, 2023 · source
- Measurement “And we talked in the past how we believe that as things become more and more digitally based, brand advertising has the potential for being much more effective in terms of understanding what the ROIs will be.” Glenn D. Fogel on the earnings call · Aug 8, 2019 · source
In the news
- 10 Questions on Advertising... with Booking.com’s Stephanie Frank The Drum · Sep 18, 2026 · marketing