Navan and Vibe separately launched Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, enabling users to query travel data, book and manage travel through AI environments like Claude and ChatGPT. Navan initially offers read-only data queries, with future plans for expense approvals and booking. Vibe's MCP allows corporate travelers to search and book flights, hotels, and rail via AI platforms.
Booking Holdings announced it will hold a conference call to discuss its second quarter 2026 financial results on Tuesday, August 4 at 4:30 p.m. ET. The release will be posted on the IR website at approximately 4:00 p.m. ET, with audio replay available for seven days.
Navan announced a partnership with Hilton to launch an industry-first hotel-TMC direct connection, using API integration for real-time booking, rich content, and modern retailing. Navan will be the first TMC to integrate directly with Hilton's Central Reservation System, providing real-time inventory, authoritative content, and streamlined virtual payments.
Startup Hotel Splitter has launched a hotel booking platform that compares traditional single-hotel stays with split-stay itineraries to identify cost savings. Launching first in London, it targets longer city breaks where nightly rates fluctuate. Founder Aaron Johal aims to make split stays a mainstream booking option and expand to other expensive urban markets.
GE Vernova has selected BCD Travel as its global travel partner, consolidating corporate and rotational workforce travel under a single global model across 106 countries. BCD will provide the TripSource platform, TripPlanner technology, specialist teams, and consulting services to support GE Vernova's rapid growth. Implementation is underway with go-live planned for early September.
Omio founder and CEO Naren Shaam discusses how AI accelerates solving supply, data, and customer understanding in multimodal travel, but doesn't replace live operational complexity. Omio currently operates in 47 countries, planning to expand to 70 next year and 100 the following year. The company is increasing B2B efforts, providing infrastructure via APIs and MCP.
Trip.Biz partnered with Yonyou Travel Cloud to launch a global travel solution focusing on cross-border business travel, offering one-stop booking and management through a unified platform.
Online travel agency Yatra received a Nasdaq non-compliance notice due to its share price falling below $1, and has 180 days to regain compliance, possibly through a reverse stock split. Q1 revenue fell 14% to $201 million, and adjusted EBITDA dropped 49%.
Vacation rental platform Holidu acquired Netherlands-based Gites.com, its 14th acquisition. Gites offers about 4,000 vacation rentals in France, and the Dutch market is one of Holidu's fastest-growing booking sources. The deal integrates local portals into its technology platform.
At Phocuswright Europe 2026, Travelier CMO Mario Gavira and Magpie founder Christian Watts debated AI's impact on major travel brands. Gavira argued AI will reinforce rather than replace leading OTAs and hotel groups due to their tech stack, loyal customer base, and inventory advantages. Watts argued AI agents will erode these advantages by offering more personalized choices. Both agreed second-tier OTAs will face greater disruption.
BCD Travel's online booking tool Tripsource now supports Dutch, bringing the total to 11 languages. This aims to reduce language barriers for travelers and arrangers, improving user experience.
Holibob launched an AI-powered conversational booking platform that lets travelers describe their needs in natural language, get recommendations from over 500,000 tours and activities, and complete bookings. It integrates with Google Things to Do.
Skyscanner is beta testing two AI tools: Explore with AI for personalized destination discovery using natural language, and a road trip planner that creates personalized driving itineraries. Early testing found 60% of users clicked through to view flight options. The company also expanded DROPS flight deal alerts, enhanced Flight Tracker, and rebranded its accommodations platform as Stays, increasing inventory from 3.5 million to over 5 million properties. CEO says AI aims to make travel planning and booking simpler and more intuitive.
Hostelworld CEO Gary Morrison said at Phocuswright Europe 2026 that the company builds its business around social needs, not just budget accommodation. He emphasized the importance of social networks and local experiences, and believes AI will change travel discovery.
Perk (formerly TravelPerk) opened its Middle East office in ADGM, Abu Dhabi, in partnership with ADIO. The company targets tripling business travel spend from UAE customers by 2028 and leverages Abu Dhabi's AI infrastructure for regional growth.
Chad Lemon, Director of Product Marketing at BCD Travel, reflects on ProcureCon Travel 2026, noting that high-performing travel programs are being rethought from the ground up rather than incrementally improved. Key themes include integrating policy with traveler experience, building trust in AI, managing multi-source NDC distribution, rising hotel costs, and the importance of open ecosystems. Leading programs connect data, policy, and behavior, offer choice within guardrails, and shift from lowest logical fare to overall value.
BCD Travel success story: A top 10 global pharmaceutical company deployed the Tripsource platform to achieve a unified booking experience for 35,000+ users across 60 markets in a strictly regulated environment. Online adoption increased from 65% to 77%, rail bookings online rose from about 60% to 83%, and average booking time fell below five minutes. The platform integrates GDS, NDC, low-cost carriers, rail, and hotel content, while supporting compliance tracking and transfer-of-value reporting.
Pintours, a San Francisco startup, has developed an AI platform that combines audio narration, navigation, augmented reality, and conversational AI to deliver personalized, context-aware travel experiences. The platform adapts to location, interests, and language in real time, and allows guides to license content and earn revenue. The company generates revenue through revenue-sharing and direct bookings, with an annualized run-rate of approximately $7 million, and has partnered with distribution platforms.
PhocusWire's roundup of travel tech news: Marriott beta-launches Ask Bonvoy AI search; Hospitable expands lodging tax automation to all 50 US states; Agoda updates trip planning tools; Flae Robotics expands to Germany and Austria; Lonely Planet appoints new executives; Lake.com launches AI assistant Lake Chat; eDreams ODIGEO launches Prime in Latin America; RateGain expands European team; Navan launches meetings platform; Groupize unveils AI-native platform; Avelo introduces disruption assistance; Southwest selects AWS; British Airways upgrades NDC platform; Civitatis partners with Despegar.
TravelTech Show and Business Travel Show Europe, co-located at ExCeL London, announced innovation award winners: Arcube won the TravelTech Show Trailblazer Award for its airline ancillary integration platform; ImpersonAlly won the People's Choice Award for brand impersonation defense. At Business Travel Show Europe, Acai won Business Travel Innovator 2026 for AI-powered travel operations automation; Nowadays won the People's Choice Award for meetings and events management.
At HBX Group's MarketHub Americas event, industry leaders discussed travel's future: CGO Mark Antipof emphasized trust as key, not technology; Trevello COO Zeina Gedeon called AI an amplifier and trust the luxury; GrupBlox CEO said AI will free up time for hospitality; Queer Destinations founder Oriol Pamies urged focus on the LGBTQ+ market with $4.7 trillion purchasing power.
Trip.com Group reported Q1 2026 net revenue of $2.4 billion, up 17% year-over-year, with international platform gross bookings up roughly 65%. The company welcomed 20 million inbound travelers last year and aims to serve 200 million in the next five years. Executives outlined an AI strategy to embed supply into global AI platforms via APIs, MCPs, and agent frameworks to capture emerging demand channels.
Australia-based startup Chaty AI has raised $1.15 million in seed funding to expand its conversational AI platform for tours, activities, and attractions operators. The platform offers an AI-powered virtual phone assistant that can answer questions, access live availability, and facilitate bookings. The company also launched a website chatbot that can be embedded into operator websites for multi-channel customer interactions. The funding will be used to accelerate product development, grow the engineering team, and expand globally.
Klook's CCO Wilfred Fan discussed using social media to disperse tourism at WiT Japan. With a network of 30,000 creators, Klook organized trips to less-visited destinations like Hiroshima, resulting in a 12-fold increase in bookings for a related product. He also addressed AI's impact on travel discovery, emphasizing that infrastructure and real-time content will become key assets.
Amadeus released a new report, Orchestrating Success, revealing that transformative AI tools are ready, but their successful adoption depends on strong foundations of trust, security, and governance. The report finds AI is poised to fundamentally transform the role of travel managers by automating repetitive tasks such as policy queries, approvals, and disruption management, freeing them to focus on forecasting, risk management, and wellbeing. It highlights AI use cases already taking shape in Amadeus Cytric, including trip intent detection, zero-touch trips, and dynamic policy.
BCD Travel has been selected as the global travel partner for GE Vernova, managing corporate and crew travel across 106 countries. The move consolidates previously fragmented operations with multiple TMCs under an integrated solution powered by BCD technology, marking a major shift after more than 30 years with its incumbent provider. BCD will use its Tripsource platform to improve traveler engagement, simplify booking, and strengthen compliance, and TripPlanner technology for rotational workforce travel.
Air India and Booking.com announced a strategic partnership to deliver a co-branded platform on Air India's website and app, offering access to Booking.com's global accommodation inventory. Maharaja Club members earn 5 points per INR 100 spent, with exclusive discounts up to 15% for a limited period. The partnership aims to provide a seamless, end-to-end travel booking experience.
HostProfit.ai is a startup building an intelligence layer for short-term rental operators, founded by Erwan Le Roy. The platform combines pricing, listing quality, distribution, advertising, and AI visibility data to help operators identify revenue opportunities. Le Roy, who operates 42 short-term rental properties, argues that operators face challenges from fragmented tools and the rise of AI-powered travel discovery. The company uses a subscription model of $58 per listing per month and offers a guarantee of 5x the annual fee in recoverable revenue.
Ctrip Corporate Travel attended the third 66 Finance Festival and co-founded the Tongfan Alliance with Golden Finance and others to provide one-stop finance and tax solutions. CMO Zong Huiwen stated they will integrate the entire travel consumption chain, embedding invoice settlement and expense control. CIO Wang Zheng shared AI applications in cross-border travel risk control and compliance, with cross-border travel orders growing over 30% for three consecutive years.
Navan has acquired Brazilian travel management company Smartrips, expanding its presence in Latin America. This is Navan's first acquisition since its IPO in October 2025. Terms were not disclosed. Smartrips, founded in 2017, provides corporate travel procurement and management services in Brazil.
At Phocuswright Europe 2026, Booking.com's chief business officer James Waters discussed AI in travel, emphasizing traveler needs and the leap of faith required to let technology make decisions.
Expedia TAAP introduces a new back-office API and internal reference code feature to help travel agencies streamline back-office operations and reduce manual work. The API provides real-time push notifications, automatically updating booking and earnings data, and supports integration with existing systems. This move aims to evolve TAAP from a booking platform to an integration-first ecosystem.
Besty AI, specializing in AI automation for short-term rentals, closed a $3.75 million seed round led by Armory Square Ventures. Funds will be used for product development and sales/marketing.
American Express has signed an agreement to acquire TheFork from Tripadvisor for $700 million in cash. TheFork provides restaurant reservation and management in Europe, covering over 50,000 restaurants across 11 countries. The deal is expected to close before year-end.
Mayumi Nakamura Birt, Chief Transformation Officer at Veltra, shared insights on digital transformation in Japan's travel industry at WiT Japan. She argued that Japan's culture of perfection can be a liability in the AI era, advocating for accepting 80% completion to iterate quickly. She builds failure tolerance by having staff train AI agents, envisioning a hybrid workforce. She also addressed overtourism in Japan, drawing lessons from Hawaii's state parks, and urged a holistic government approach. She predicted travel companies will become 'storytelling companies' using AI to deliver personalized experiences.
Travel advisor platform Tern has launched agentic AI capabilities that automate workflows, including reviewing inboxes, generating cruise proposals, and drafting client communications. Advisors must approve actions. CEO says the AI eliminates the need to hire or outsource administrative work, allowing advisors to focus on trip curation and growth.
Video platforms are reshaping travelers' booking journeys, and hotels face a 'speed problem' as their technology systems struggle to keep up with changing consumer habits. A digital expert at Radisson Hotel Group highlighted that legacy operating models are ill-suited to the fast-evolving customer journey, necessitating integrated marketing, distribution, and revenue management, along with cultural change through partnerships.
Amadeus signed a global agreement with Myrealtrip, Korea's leading online travel platform, to expand cooperation in areas such as deploying AI-powered solutions, expanding non-air content (hotels and destination experiences), and exploring adoption of Amadeus Hey! traveler engagement solution. This supports Myrealtrip's growth and digital transformation.
AI-powered travel companion iWander has launched an iOS app offering character-led narrated walking tours across more than 1000 cities, including personas like a history buff and counter culture, plus curated tours in 25 destinations and in-app booking for attractions, restaurants, and events. Founded in 2023 as a B2B2C service, iWander is now pivoting to consumer. CEO Marius Nigond says rapid tech development necessitates its own platform for fast iteration. The company also helped City Sightseeing develop an AI app and uses data to optimize route design.
Bliink is an AI-native corporate travel platform targeting SMEs in Southeast Asia, offering booking, policy compliance, approvals, and personalized recommendations. It aggregates inventory from over 600 airlines and 2.6 million properties, initially focusing on Indonesia with plans to expand across the region.