Online Travel News

Expedia's annual filing now treats AI agents as a major threat, not just a competitive pressure. The company is betting that direct engagement can keep it from becoming an invisible backend.

There are conflicting messages at Tripadvisor these days. Goldberg told employees that it "will take time" for its 3-month-old strategy revamp "to show up in the numbers." Meanwhile, activist investor Starboard Value argued "the time for incrementalism is over."

AI booking platforms could become the new gatekeepers of travel demand. Wyndham is among the hotel groups plugging in their inventory and hoping to capture bookings at a lower cost than through OTAs.

AI is now a non-negotiable in the travel industry. But how every company uses it is what is setting them apart.

We sometimes think of independent hotels as relatively powerless given the strength of the OTAs and the big hotel chains. Will agentic AI turn the tables?

The pandemic trained travelers to expect the worst, and now travel brands are capitalizing on that mindset.

Starboard Value will likely find plenty of support among Tripadvisor's long-suffering shareholders.

Agentic AI will likely access APIs to compare pricing. But those queries would have severe limitations and will ultimately require more rigorous solutions to ensure a deal is really a deal.

Expedia's B2B division is growing nearly five times faster than its consumer brands. That gap buys time for the Vrbo and Hotels.com turnaround — but 2026 will test whether efficiency gains can translate into sustained momentum.

In an era when speed to market is a given, Chesky is arguing that nice and easy does it will win the day. It would be better to say, "We are behind in our AI development, but we are confident that we will get to where we need to be."