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Agents can surface a trip. Completing one still requires pricing, inventory, and supplier systems no AI platform has built. Skyscanner's CEO said bots will call his APIs, not replicate two decades of commercial agreements. Travelport rebuilt its platform so AI agents can book through it. MakeMyTrip's co-founder said investors stopped asking whether chatbots would replace OTAs.

Apple made their case for them. Its rebuilt Siri pulls flight confirmation codes and answers carry-on questions — but can't book anything. Aven, the former Sabre hotel unit, built a booking engine, targeting the parts Siri can't touch.

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Accor’s Blueprint for AI-Powered Hospitality

ACCOR + SKIFT

AI is becoming a gatekeeper between travelers and hotel brands. The companies preparing now could gain a lasting advantage.

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EDITOR’S PICKS

Travelport Launches TripServices to Power AI Travel Booking

June 11, 2026

AI agents can already help travelers dream up trips. Booking them is harder. Travelport is betting that cleaner access to flights, hotels, and extras will keep travel sellers from looking elsewhere.

Aven’s New Booking Engine Targets Hotel Direct Booking Conversions

June 11, 2026

Aven, the former Sabre hospitality business, is taking direct aim at a core hotel tech problem: how much legacy infrastructure can still support modern direct booking. Its new booking engine shows what a cleaner rebuild could look like.

MakeMyTrip Co-Founder on India IPO and the AI Question Investors Stopped Asking

June 10, 2026

MakeMyTrip is trying to answer three questions at once: can it stay relevant as AI reshapes travel discovery, can a string of small acquisitions build real value rather than just organizational sprawl, and does a domestic listing finally make sense after 16 years on Nasdaq?

Lighthouse Launches AI Assistant for Hotel Commercial Teams

June 9, 2026

Hotel teams already have too many dashboards. Ernest has to prove it can simplify commercial work, not become one more place to check.

Apple’s Rebuilt Siri Opens New Doors for Travel Apps

June 8, 2026

Apple's rebuilt Siri is not booking trips. But it is getting better at understanding the messy context around them.

Skyscanner CEO on Agentic Booking and the Future of Flight Metasearch

June 8, 2026

Given Skyscanner's leading global footprint in flights, it isn't hard to envision an LLM extracting it from Trip.com Group to accelerate building a travel vertical.

The Two-Sided AI Squeeze That Only Travel Faces

June 5, 2026

Travel is the only major industry getting hit from both directions at once: AI search volumes are exploding without converting while total AI token bills internally are rising.

SKIFT PODCAST NETWORK

Build versus buy sounds like a business school debate until you realize the travel industry is still digging out from years of tech debt it barely managed to offload to the cloud. In this clip from the Skift Travel Podcast, Seth Borko and guest host Sean O'Neill break down the five biggest AI tensions facing the industry right now and why the question of who builds what in-house could define the next decade.

Because vibe-coded AI tools shipping from the front desk might solve a problem today and create five more by 2035.

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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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