Online Travel Battles, A TikTok Deal and Amex’s New Travel App

Online travel giants are leaning hard into B2B: Booking is consolidating partner teams across Booking.com, Priceline, and Agoda; Hopper’s focus has shifted so much to B2B that its consumer presence outside North America has faded; and Expedia is broadening B2B tech with new APIs for cars, insurance, and ads—offering growth without Google ad spend and steadier, contract-based revenue. The U.S. and China have agreed on a framework to keep TikTok operating in the U.S., preserving a key travel marketing channel that TikTok says helps 69% of users discover brands. Meanwhile, American Express Travel is launching its first iOS app on September 18, bundling existing hotel and flight booking perks (like lounge wait times) into a mobile experience without adding new inventory or trip-planning tools.

• TikTok Deal Could Save Travel Brands’ Access to 170 Million U.S. Users
  
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  The B2B Battleground: Expedia, Booking and Hopper Are Redefining Online Travel’s Quiet Money Machine
  
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  American Express Travel to Debut Travel App for Bookings

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