Over the last couple of days, you may have received an email from Booking.com, stating that, starting from 2 December, you’ll “gain access to a larger audience as your Genius rates will be offered to the most frequent travelers across other companies within the Booking Holdings family.”

Rough waters in the macro environment have rocked the boats of travel companies across the globe. They have had to navigate through the consequences of currency instability, the U.S.-China trade war, Brexit and Hong Kong protests. Across all regions, public online travel agency (OTA) gross bookings growth rates slowed in the first half of 2019 (1H19) according to Phocuswright‘s latest travel research report Public Online Travel Roundup, 1H19.

There is still a lot of talk in the hospitality industry regarding the rising costs of distribution. While encouraging guests to book direct can help hotels bypass some commissions and fees (even direct channels are typically not a free lunch), there are still many hotels that rely on the distribution and marketing reach of online travel agencies (OTAs).

SHANGHAI and NEEDHAM, Mass., Nov. 6, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Trip.com Group Limited (Nasdaq: TCOM) ("Trip.com Group", formerly known as Ctrip.com International Ltd. (Nasdaq: CTRP)) and TripAdvisor, Inc. (Nasdaq: TRIP) ("TripAdvisor") today announced a strategic partnership to expand global cooperation, including a joint venture, global content agreements and a governance agreement.