Online Travel News

If you're setting your AI roadmap around build versus partner or buy, Ranganathan's framework suggests a major issue is whether the capability touches customer data and trust.

Travel companies have built a banking-like float system around consumer prepayments, without banking-like protections, and the scale is now too large to ignore.

India's largest online travel platform wants to show up before a traveler even thinks about booking. The idea is not to chase viral Reels, but about whether a scroll can turn into a booking.

Another AI travel agent might not be news. One built by the founder of Sonder, with something to prove, is.

In his first media interview as Expedia’s Chief AI and Data Officer, Xavier Amatriain gives a rare look at the logic shaping one of travel’s most closely watched AI strategies. 

Expedia's advertising program has one thing that Google and Meta can't offer — confirmed bookers. As such, advertisers can target travelers with set plans and try to entice them to book additional products.

No Indian travel earnings call is complete without an AI pitch anymore. A closer reading of the latest calls from MakeMyTrip, Ixigo, TBO, and Yatra shows very different strategies, and varying levels of confidence about what comes next.

In travel, as in banking, the moat you're defending today is probably shallower than you think. And it's likely someone is already digging around it.

Ten years after Hilton, Marriott, and other chains began coaxing travelers to book directly, online travel agencies still control roughly the same slice of the pie. Yet the chains have won the economics: lower commissions, better contract terms, and stronger loyalty programs.

The hotel leadership shuffle represents somewhat of an about-face for Airbnb as it opts for a leader with online travel agency experience rather than a hotel brand track record. Still, these are early days for Airbnb hotels, and there is plenty of time to get things right.