Wall Street is already warming to Airbnb’s growth story, with shares up more than 25% since its latest earnings results, and Bernstein sees future growth driven partly by AI search. But the case for that hasn't been fully proven on the platform or across travel. Airbnb, Booking, and Expedia can point to measurable returns in areas like conversion, recommendations and ranking, personalization, and customer support. The payoff for conversational AI search, however, is still vague, indirect, uneven, or further out.
Many OTAs and travel infra players like Sabre and Amadeus remain convinced and invested even so, while AI considerations move deeper into business decisions. Expedia shuffled its executive deck around AI-driven productivity. Booking is backing a new AI venture from Kayak’s founders. Direct suppliers like Hilton are moving on AI too, while striking a balance: According to CEO Christopher Nassetta, AI changes who makes the recommendation. Not what earns it.
Hear from Nasetta and other top executives directly at Skift Global Forum in NYC on Sept 22-24.
Skift Data + AI Summit Europe
Every travel company selling into Europe now runs AI under rules the U.S. doesn't have. London is where both sides of that split sit in one room.
250 senior operators, plus the CEOs of KAYAK and Skyscanner and IAG's Chief AI Scientist, working through how AI actually gets built and deployed under the EU AI Act. October 6, London. Early-bird pricing closes August 31.
CURACITY + SKIFT
At Skift Data + AI Summit 2026, travel leaders shared how AI is moving from pilots to production, with data, ownership, and trust emerging as the biggest differentiators.
EDITOR’S PICKS
Hilton’s CEO on Why the Fundamentals Still Win in the AI Era
August 21, 2026
As AI models increasingly decide who gets recommended, Chris Nassetta's view is that the inputs still hold. Reliability, culture, and a lifetime relationship with the guest keep earning the recommendation, even as who does the recommending has changed.
SKIFT PODCAST NETWORK
Google gives you 10 links. AI gives you three. New Skift Research from the State of Travel report shows AI is fundamentally narrowing the discovery funnel and properties that never competed against each other are now going head to head.
In this clip from Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast, Skift Research Head Seth Borko breaks down why Blue Ridge and the Adirondacks are now competing for the same guest, what it means for operators when AI curates instead of lists, and why getting into that shortlist of one to three results is becoming the most important distribution challenge in travel.
SKIFT RESEARCH
How are public travel tech companies performing around the world? The Skift Travel 200 pulls the data you need to know to understand the market. Paid subscribers get full access here.
