A travel and technology revolution: Booking.com’s brand ascent
In the ever-widening, ever-cluttered ocean of choice that people face using digital and technology services, many marketers doubt whether technology platforms can ever become true brands. Booking.com has spent the last decade quietly, methodically, and, let’s be honest, brilliantly proving them wrong.
In 2025, Booking.com is not just the most valuable Dutch brand, it’s one of the world’s most valuable travel brands, with a brand value of $25 billion, up 50% year on year.
This isn’t a fluke or a one-off. It’s the result of a long-term, intentional journey from functional platform to power brand, built on being more Meaningfully Different for more people, across the full brand journey.
Booking.com brand value change 2019 to 2025 ($M)
The moments that mattered
Booking.com’s transformation didn’t happen overnight, nor did it hinge on a single campaign. As Ben Harrell puts it, “While there hasn’t been one defining moment, this is something we’ve been building towards for many years. From the start, we’ve focused on making travel easier by cutting friction and giving people more options, with customers always central to our approach.”
One of the biggest milestones in Booking.com’s brand journey came in 2013 with the launch of the very first Booking.yeah campaign. As Ben Harrell reflects: “Probably the biggest key milestone for us on the brand front, and something that continues to be one of my personal favourites, was our very first Booking.yeah campaign in 2013, which showcased that amazing ‘oh yeah’ moment when you walk into your hotel or vacation rental and realise that Booking.com helped you get it right.”
Since then, Booking.yeah has become the creative platform through which Booking.com has doubled down on brand-building, moving beyond performance marketing. Many of the brand’s most high-profile moments, including Super Bowl ads with Idris Elba, Melissa McCarthy, Tina Fey, and The Muppets, have carried the Booking.yeah spirit, using humour and cultural relevance to make Booking.com a fixture in the global travel conversation.
“Twelve years on, we’re actually still exploring that Booking.yeah territory and how we always strive to get it right for travellers.”
The strategic shift from platform to brand
The real genius of Booking.com’s evolution is that it never abandoned its roots as a technology platform. Instead, it layered on brand meaning, emotional connection, and trust, without losing sight of utility. What this means to the traveller is that Booking.com has become increasingly Meaningfully Different, a quality that drives brands to grow faster, command higher margins, and be more resilient in times of crisis.
Booking.com’s journey is a textbook case. The brand’s relentless focus on making travel easy, reliable, and even fun has built a reservoir of trust and preference.
“While we take the business of getting it right seriously and work hard to make travel as seamless as possible, we also believe it’s important not to take ourselves too seriously. While many brands lean into the aspirational side of travel, we’ve always been focused on the practical side, the part that gets people where they want to go.”
This practical, approachable, and sometimes cheekily irreverent tone is not just a creative choice, it’s a strategic differentiator. In a world of aspirational travel brands, Booking.com is the brand that gets you there, with a wink and a smile.
The Blueprint for Brand Growth in action
Booking.com’s playbook is a masterclass in Kantar’s Blueprint for Brand Growth:
1. Be Meaningfully Different to more people:
Booking.com’s expansion from accommodation to full-trip services (flights, cars, attractions) was driven by deep customer insight and a commitment to making the entire travel journey frictionless. The brand’s ability to localise campaigns, invest in translation and cultural nuance, and show up with relevance in dozens of markets is a case study in balancing global consistency with local resonance.
2. Consistent delivery and brand experience:
The brand’s growth is not just about big campaigns. It’s about relentless consistency, delivering on the promise, every time, everywhere.
“Our mission is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. That clarity of purpose is what allows us to stay consistent even as we scale across new channels, markets, and technologies.”
3. Innovation and agility:
Booking.com has embedded AI and machine learning into everything from fraud detection to property rankings to translation. The latest leap? Generative AI-powered personalisation, making every trip feel tailored and every interaction smarter.
4. Brand building and performance in balance:
The data is unambiguous: brands that invest in both long-term brand building and shortterm activation outperform those that chase only clicks and conversions. Booking.com’s approach offers a warning to marketers stuck in the performance marketing death spiral, and a beacon for those who want to build brands that last.
Booking.com’s brand value growth vs. the most valuable Dutch brands in 2025
The results: BrandZ rankings and brand value
- #1 Most Valuable Dutch Brand 2025: $23.6 billion, +48% YoY.
- Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands 2025: Booking.com enters the global elite at #89, outpacing many established names.
- Great Value Brand: Booking.com combines high Pricing Power with low perceived price, making it a brand consumers would pay more for, but are grateful they don’t have to.
- Sustained Brand Equity: Booking.com’s Meaningful Difference, Demand Power, and Future Power scores are among the highest in the Dutch market.
Brand building is a long game, but the payoff is real
Booking.com’s journey is a lesson for every brand owner, marketer, and agency leader:
- Build beyond the functional to create brand meaning, emotional connection, and trust.
- Balance performance with long-term brand building.
- Be relentlessly consistent, but never complacent.
- Innovate, localise, and stay close to your customers.
“With decades of innovation behind us, we’ll keep pushing forward to make travel easier and more rewarding. Our strength has always been our ability to adapt. In a world that continues to present new challenges and opportunities, standing still means going backwards. We remain future-focused, committed to learning, and open to new ways of working.”
This article is part of an exclusive series inspired by an interview with Ben Harrel, Managing Director US at Booking.com. Want to explore the full story? Download your free booklet here.
