Google is getting the tools in place to make AI more transactional in travel. For now, Google is testing agentic checkout and promotional offers within AI search results for retail.
Although booking a flight and choosing a seat is way more complex than buying some Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses, rest assured that attempting to do something similar in travel isn't too far off.
Google says it has no ambition to become a booking site — but that likely won't make travel companies any less paranoid.
EDITOR’S PICKS
Marriott Says Google AI Mode Will Process Hotel Bookings, Not Just Send Links
by Adriana Lee
February 11, 2026
Marriott is the first major hotel to publicly discuss its work with Google on its upcoming agentic AI travel booking tool. But it raises more questions than answers — especially whether AI Mode offers in-chat checkout for partners and link-outs for everyone else.
OpenAI Launches Ads Pilot for ChatGPT, Travel Expected to Participate
by Adriana Lee
February 9, 2026
OpenAI has crossed the advertising threshold. ChatGPT is now a potential marketing channel for travel brands — one that could surface hotel and flight ads at the exact moment a traveler is planning a trip inside a conversation.
Google Earnings: AI Search Is Changing Travel Discovery, Even Before Booking Tools Arrive
by Adriana Lee
February 5, 2026
Google’s AI search is changing how travelers find trips. The booking tools aren’t here yet, but the traffic dynamics are already shifting — and the rules for capturing demand are shifting with them.
We launched a new podcast last week: Skift Take Sessions. The series consists of 1-on-1 interviews from our live events, put into current context by conversations with conversations by my fellow editors and reporters and our colleague Wil Slickers, who leads our podcast and video efforts. In the clip above Wil and I discuss Brian Chesky’s most session at Skift Global Forum and what it means now as we’ve started into 2026.
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.
