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.

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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.

What a Siberian Startup and a Saudi Ticketing App Reveal About Travel’s Future

by Rafat Ali
February 11, 2026

Two startups from two different worlds are quietly rewriting the rules of who controls the travel transaction, with fascinating implications.

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.

Trivago Made Its Name on TV Ads — Now It’s Moving Into Streaming and Podcasts

by Dennis Schaal
February 4, 2026

It's been a slog for Trivago executives to turn around the company. In 2026, they argue they have the advertising scale to get more profitable.

Kindred Raised $125 Million in Funding to Expand Home-Swapping Platform

by Dennis Schaal
February 4, 2026

Kindred's challenge is to help take home-swaps from a niche market into a more mainstream product.

Airbnb on Services, AI and More

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.

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