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At Skift Asia Forum this week, how AI is rewiring travel discovery became a major theme — TikTok and AI summaries shape what travelers want, while AI referrals convert well at Wego and investors envision "OTA 2.0." But for builders like Agoda, Grab, and Elivaas, the booking still runs through the old pipes, and they believe that's not changing anytime soon.

Meanwhile, away from the event, travel CEOs claimed leverage inside the AI stack on earnings calls: Hilton on supply, Booking on performance marketing, Wyndham on franchisee margins. But Google's AI Max expansion set the actual terms.

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Smart Procurement in Hospitality Is Transforming the Guest Experience

AMAZON BUSINESS + SKIFT

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.

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EDITOR’S PICKS

Google’s AI Max Positions Travel Ads for AI Overviews and AI Mode

May 1, 2026

Google built the AI search surfaces displacing travel’s organic traffic. Now it’s bringing travel advertisers into the system that powers them — and the price is the keyword control paid search has run on for decades.

Wyndham Pitches AI as Antidote to Hotel Margin Squeeze

April 30, 2026

Wyndham believes AI tools will eventually bring relief to franchisee P&Ls, though not immediately across the board for all hotels.

Grab Doesn’t Want the Full Trip — Just a Key Piece of It

April 30, 2026

Grab's consumer super app is becoming mapping infrastructure for Big Tech in Southeast Asia. Travel brands may not compete with it — but they may increasingly depend on it.

Investors Bet on ‘OTA 2.0’ — But Some Builders Aren’t There Yet

April 29, 2026

Investors see AI creating a new generation of travel distributors, while others say the real work still runs through the old ones.

How TikTok and AI Are Rewriting Booking Decisions in Asia

April 29, 2026

The customer is technically in charge of booking decisions, but social media and AI systems are increasingly making the decisions for them.

Agoda CEO on Rebuilding the Business With Multiple AI Agents From the ‘Bottom Up’

April 29, 2026

You can be sure that Agoda is far ahead of 95% of the travel industry in reimagining its business using multiple AI agents from the ground up. But will it be enough if some of the LLMs crack travel booking?

Booking Holdings Saw U.S. Strength in Q1, but Middle East Weighs on Outlook

April 28, 2026

Progress in the U.S. has been a very long slog for Booking, but it's finally starting to show some positive results.

Hilton Says ChatGPT App Is Coming and to Expect More ‘Select’ Deals

April 28, 2026

Hilton wants AI platforms to need it more than it needs them. That's a bold position for a company still describing its tools as “early days.”

Google Cloud Uses Travel to Show What Agentic AI Can Actually Do

April 25, 2026

Google Cloud Next highlighted travel to show that “agentic” AI can collapse trip decisions into a single flow, using the cruise business as the top example.

GetYourGuide’s AI Updates Target the Gap Between Planning and Booking

April 23, 2026

GetYourGuide is betting the real AI gap isn't planning or paying — it's the moment in between, when travelers decide what's worth booking.

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SKIFT PODCAST NETWORK

In this clip from Skift Forum Asia, leaders from Web Travel Group and North Ridge Partners and Elivaas argue about this moment in travel's tech trajectory: From the investor view, the former says that 2026 is shaping up like the early 2000s, when the first wave of online travel agencies was built. His take: we now have a rare opening to build “OTA mark two,” a next-generation version of travel distribution that could look very different from today’s incumbents.

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SKIFT RESEARCH

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.

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