The European Commission fined Alphabet for pushing its own hotel and transport results above others. On AI Overviews and AI Mode, the EU hasn't offered any rulings yet. The legal guardrails lag behind development, while others keep expanding the AI scope: Amazon is bringing partners like Priceline into Alexa+ chats this year, with booking using cards already saved in shopping accounts. ChatGPT's ad pilot cleared $100 million annualized in six weeks.
As AI expands, it also contracts. Trip.com killed the price-matching tool behind its antitrust case and growth is on track to drop from 17% to as low as 3%. And eight months after the Sonder brand died, chatbots are still sending travelers there.
Skift Data + AI Summit Europe lands in London October 6 — the first European edition.
Skift Global Forum
When the agent books the trip, who owns the customer? That question is moving from panel hypothetical to boardroom decision.
Skift Global Forum takes it on live September 22-24 in New York, where OpenAI chairman Bret Taylor and the CEOs of Expedia and Booking Holdings work through what agentic booking does to the customer relationship.
WUNDERKIND + SKIFT
Wunderkind’s new report explores where AI earns traveler trust, where it falls short, and what brands can do next.
EDITOR’S PICKS
Amazon’s Alexa+ Is Trying to Sell Trips Inside a Chat. Priceline Is an Early Test
July 27, 2026
Amazon is betting that stored payment credentials, new MCP support and 180 million Prime members can solve the problem that stopped OpenAI cold: getting travelers to complete a purchase inside an AI conversation.
Skift Brings Data + AI Summit to Europe for the First Time
July 24, 2026
Nearly every travel company now claims to be deploying AI. Far fewer can show the outcome, and Europe's rules and languages make proof harder to reach than anywhere else. The Skift Data + AI Summit Europe is where leaders close that distance.
SKIFT PODCAST NETWORK
The Henley Passport Index is out and the US is no longer at the top.
In the Skift Travel Podcast, Sarah Kopit and Seth Borko break down what the rankings actually reveal, why the average passport now grants access to nearly 90 countries compared to around 20 two decades ago, and whether the era of expanding global mobility has finally peaked.
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.
