Skift's 2026 Power Rankings shift the lens from risk-takers to builders — the 25 travel leaders constructing the infrastructure, platforms, and products reshaping the industry. We ranked them on infrastructure, innovation, reach, and scale, weighting the builders solving problems core to how travel actually works. See who made the cut.

45 tickets left. Then Skift Global Forum is closed for 2026.

The builders you just read about, in one room: Amadeus, Spotnana, and Expedia on stage alongside the CEOs of Airbnb, Uber, Booking Holdings, and Hilton, at the North Javits Center, September 22-24. The room is 96% sold.

Hotel PMS buyers face deeper vendor lock-in · GDS-dependent airlines must pick platform allegiances · Corporate travel buyers confront fewer booking rails · Legacy hotel brands cede pace to builders.

Skift's 2026 Power Rankings weighted infrastructure ownership above raw scale. Amadeus, Navan, and Sabre outranked larger rivals by controlling the rails that other companies depend on.

Policy — Trip.com Group's Antitrust Reset Could Change How Hotels Compete on Its Platform — Peden Doma Bhutia.

Capital — The Banks That Don't Want to Become Travel Companies — Rafat Ali.

Distribution — Sam's Club Travel Relaunches With Cruises and Deal With Rocket Travel's Founders — Dennis Schaal.

Amadeus's Idemia deal: watch whether the €1.2 billion acquisition of Idemia's public security division closes on schedule.

Trip.com's China restructuring: watch which platform changes survive once the antitrust fine settles.

Co-brand card issuers: watch which banks follow the trip-owning minority toward booking, versus staying at the payment layer.

Traveler expectations are outpacing the industry's ability to keep up: 124% growth in AI trip planning against just 2% operational adoption, according to Skift Research.

TURO + SKIFT

As AI reshapes discovery and booking, Turo sees mobility as a test case for building travel around individual needs.

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Airbnb just committed $250 million toward housing construction starting with an affordable development in Austin, one of the markets where short-term rental regulations have hit hardest.

In this clip from Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast, the crew breaks down why this move makes perfect sense as a government relations tool, why it represents only 2% to 4% of Airbnb's cash on hand, and why the timing raises the question of why they did not do this years ago.

How are public travel companies performing around the world? The Skift Travel 200 pulls the data you need to understand global market movements. Paid subscribers get full access here.

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