Google has been signaling this quietly, and at its I/O developer conference on Tuesday it made it official: hotels are the next vertical for its Universal Commerce Protocol — the plumbing that lets AI agents handle purchases inside Google’s search and chat. It also previewed the payment layer that an AI agent would need to actually book a room. No timeline beyond “starting soon,” but the question for hotels has shifted from whether agentic booking is coming to how fast they need to be ready.

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What if your procurement strategy could actually improve the guest experience? New research from Skift + Amazon Business shows how hotels are making that a reality.

From shifting consumer tastes to the impact of AI, global travel is undergoing unprecedented change. Skift Advisory helps make sense of it all. Learn more here.

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From Booking.com’s long chase of the connected trip, to Airbnb's hotel push and its flirtation with social media, to why Expedia might actually be the quiet winner of the Uber travel moment, the GMH crew unpacks who is playing the long game right and who might be overcomplicating it.

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