What's all that fuss about the potential that the OTAs will get disintermediated by agentic AI? Not a chance, said Booking Holdings CFO Ewout Steenbergen at a financial conference Tuesday. In fact, he thinks Booking's own in-house agentic tools, many of which are still underdevelopment, will give Booking's brands the chance to steal market share and grow.
Meanwhile, in another story, this one about Claude's impact on travel, we argue that the OTAs' competitive moats will find themselves under water before long. These clashing viewpoints characterize where the online travel industry finds itself these days.
EDITOR’S PICKS
Trip.com Group Points to Massive Inbound Tourism Opportunity in China
by Peden Doma Bhutia
February 26, 2026
Trip.com Group's earnings revealed a major opportunity in China’s underdeveloped inbound tourism market, but the company now faces a familiar risk: an antitrust investigation that could reshape platform economics and growth expectations.
Airbnb Lets Asia Pacific Guests Book Without Paying Upfront: Here’s How It Works
by Peden Doma Bhutia
February 25, 2026
Although the rollout spans most major Asia-Pacific markets, travelers in India still won’t see the feature yet, a notable exclusion given the country’s size and growing outbound travel demand.
SKIFT PODCAST NETWORK
Earlier this week, the Good Morning Hospitality team talked through a recent report that online travel agencies spent a record amount on marketing in 2025. Can this spend keep up with changing consumer habits? Expedia, Booking, Airbnb, and their peers hope so.
SKIFT RESEARCH | DATA
Market Performance
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.
