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MarketAbout episode about Booking Holdings BKNG — the travel cash machine

In this episode we take a clear, no-nonsense look at a massive travel platform that often flies under the radar. Booking Holdings owns a family of travel brands you already know and use and it has built an unrivaled global distribution engine. 

We walk through how the business actually makes money, why the payment or merchant side has become the more profitable engine, and how advertising and related services add incremental revenue. 

We touch on recent strategic moves that matter for the thesis: heavy investment in AI personalization, a push toward an integrated travel experience that covers flights, stays, activities and dining, and new partnerships and customer offerings that strengthen the ecosystem. We also look at the regulatory backdrop in Europe and other competitive and operational risks that could complicate the outlook.