Asia’s Agoda seems well-positioned to compete in generative AI, as CEO Omri Morgenshtern pointed out at the Skift Asia Forum in Thailand Wednesday. He and his team are busy rebuilding the business from the ground up with the goal of halving multiple agents talk to one another as comfortably as a group of friends out for a stroll.
Will generative AI enhance Agoda’s position, as Morgenshtern and other Booking Holdings leaders argue? That is certainly a contrarian view.
Given that the OTAs already compete nip and tuck with other channels on a global level, it’s hard to imagine that AI disruption won’t alter the pecking order.
WUNDERKIND + SKIFT
What if up to 95% of your website visitors are completely invisible to your marketing tools? Wunderkind's new guide breaks down how travel brands can fix their identity gap before it costs them more.
EDITOR’S PICKS
Agoda CEO on Rebuilding the Business With Multiple AI Agents From the ‘Bottom Up’
April 29, 2026
You can be sure that Agoda is far ahead of 95% of the travel industry in reimagining its business using multiple AI agents from the ground up. But will it be enough if some of the LLMs crack travel booking?
GMH Bonus: Vrbo’s Tim Rosolio on AI, Supply Boom, and the End of Easy Money in STRs
April 23, 2026
In this GMH Bonus episode, Brandy Canaley and Michael Goldin sit down with Tim Rosolio, VP of Vacation Rental Partnerships at Vrbo and Expedia Group, from a standout “Vacation Rental of the Year” property in New Hampshire.
Capital One Closed Hopper Tech and Employee Deal in April, Focuses on Travel Expansion
April 22, 2026
The Hopper tech acquisition, along with that of Discover and Brex, position Capital One Travel to get much more competitive with American Express and Chase Travel in going after luxury and business travelers.
NYC Finds 27% of Approved Short-Term Rental Listings Are Now Illegal
April 21, 2026
Turns out you can probably find some entire-home short-term rental listings in New York City, after all, because hosts take lawfully registered listings and convert them into illegal ones. Airbnb isn't required to take any action to limit the practice — and apparently isn't doing so.
The travel industry is moving from AI experimentation to execution, with real impact across distribution, operations, and customer experience. The Skift Data + AI Summit returns June 3 in New York City, bringing industry leaders together to share the next wave of AI applications and data strategies shaping travel.
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SKIFT PODCAST NETWORK
Uber is no longer just chasing rides. It is chasing the trip.
In this video, we break down Uber’s new partnership with Expedia and why it matters far beyond hotel booking. Uber will let U.S. users book hotels in its app, with Vrbo rentals expected to come later, and the hotel inventory is expected to scale to more than 700,000 properties globally. Uber One members will also get at least 20% off select hotels and 10% back in Uber Credits.
But this is not really a hotel story. It is a platform story.
SKIFT TRAVEL 200
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.
