TPConnects Technologies has developed a Model Context Protocol (MCP) layer for its Iris platform to enable interaction between content and AI agents. Iris provides access to NDC, LCC, and GDS content from a single source. The MCP layer makes content machine-readable for AI agents.
Mirai launched AI infrastructure enabling hotel bookings through natural language interactions. The platform supports chat, email, WhatsApp, phone, and AI assistants like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, with payments handled within the system. Mirai redesigned its infrastructure to connect via MCP, making hotels discoverable, understandable, and bookable by machines.
Travelport has released updates to its Flights API, including NDC enhancements such as Air Canada Flight Pass payment, bundled ancillary offers, and disruption handling flows. For GDS, new features include Premium Flex Search with multi-PCC and flexible date search, and mixed cabin requests per leg. These updates aim to improve search and booking flexibility, directly impacting travel agencies and corporate travel management.
Lake.com launched an annual subscription model for STR hosts and property managers, replacing commission-based bookings. Premium costs $499/year, Portfolio $3,999/year, offering commission-free booking and direct booking. This responds to the direct booking trend, providing more flexibility.
This week's travel tech news: Amex GBT, Shell Aviation, and Google extend SAF partnership; HTS partners with Hopper to upgrade Avion Rewards; Agoda opens Bangkok office; SqaaS launches ShellBot; Capital A names deputy CEO; NextTrip adds agentic tools; PriceLabs launches Revenue Accelerator; Hostaway launches website solution; PCL Construction selects Navan; JTB launches Teal Essential; CityBlue Hotels partners with Inntelo.
Almosafer, Saudi Arabia's leading travel company, has announced a strategic collaboration with Accor's Makkah hotel cluster (including Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissôtel) to enhance inventory access and distribution efficiency, supporting Saudi Vision 2030. The partnership leverages Almosafer's Hajj and Umrah businesses and global network.
Travelport shareholders have committed $50 million in fresh capital to support its next growth phase. New CEO John Mangelaars outlined three strategic priorities, including expanding AI capabilities and improving content supply. The company has completed a platform transformation into a single modernized tech stack, with TripServices at its core. Travelport is also bringing AI to its agent-facing Smartpoint software to boost productivity and reduce service costs.
Cloudbeds' State of Independent Hotels study shows OTA share for independent hotels rose to 63.4% in 2025, up from 61.3% in 2024. North America saw the largest increase, up 3.3 percentage points to 52.7%. While RevPAR grew 19% since 2019, acquisition costs rose 25%, outpacing revenue growth. The study also found OTA cancellation rates near 22%, compared to 10.6% for direct bookings.
Dominican low-cost carrier Arajet and Amadeus have signed a strategic distribution agreement to make Arajet's flight content available via the Amadeus Travel Platform to travel agencies across the Americas. The agreement supports Arajet's growth plans to reach a fleet of 17 aircraft in 2026 and expand its sales reach.
Travelport has released Flights API updates covering NDC and GDS content. New features include support for Air Canada NDC flight passes, NDC bundled offers, NDC disruption handling, and GDS fare quote per passenger/segment, premium flex search, among others. These updates aim to enhance booking flexibility and operational efficiency.
Byway has partnered with TUI to bring flight-free travel to the UK mainstream, placing its products in 329 TUI retail stores nationwide. This enables agents to sell overland options alongside traditional package holidays, giving Byway access to a large offline distribution channel. Bookings are up 1.8 times year over year as travelers seek alternatives to air travel. Through the integration, TUI agents can build and book multi-stop rail- and ferry-based itineraries using Byway's platform. Rail travel produces roughly 14 grams of CO2 per passenger mile compared with 285 grams for air, according to Byway.
Despite OpenAI's shift away from Instant Checkout, AI-driven travel booking continues to advance. AI platforms are taking different approaches: OpenAI focuses on discovery, Google leverages its ecosystem, and Perplexity experiments with owning the transaction layer. Chinese OTA Fliggy enables direct bookings through Alibaba's Qwen app, processing over 200 million AI-native shopping orders during Spring Festival. Experts believe fully autonomous AI bookings remain a long-term goal, with trust and interoperability as key challenges.
Sabre announced an extension of its distribution representation agreement with TNS Global to cover Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. TNS Global will represent and distribute the Sabre brand, providing local travel agencies with access to Sabre Mosaic and a local helpdesk, enhancing their growth opportunities. This expands TNS Global's African presence from 11 to 14 markets.
Google has updated its Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) with new capabilities, including a Cart option enabling agents to save or add multiple items to a shopping basket from a single store. Through Identity Linking, shoppers on UCP-integrated platforms can access the same loyalty or member perks as on a retailer's site. Catalog functionality allows agents to retrieve product details such as inventory and pricing in real time. The move follows OpenAI's decision to shift Instant Checkout in ChatGPT to apps.
This week's travel tech news includes: TourRadar updates AI products; ESky launches AI assistant MAIA; SAP Concur extends partnerships with HRS and Amex GBT, and integrates Engine's hotel network; TPConnects adds MCP integration to Astra NDC platform; Hopper Technology Solutions launches Cancel for Any Reason for hotels; S4BT and SQUAKE partner to measure business travel emissions; SITA launches Bag Radar; Blacklane partners with CLEAR; Amadeus forms strategic partnership with TCS; Mews integrates with Turneo, and more.
Amadeus has entered a global strategic partnership with Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) to accelerate travel technology transformation. The initial focus is on Amadeus Nevio implementation, with TCS supporting development of the Nevio Service Center customer service interface, using AI to improve first contact resolution and reduce handling time and cost. The partnership will expand across airlines, hospitality, airports, payments, and distribution.
At the Airline Distribution 2026 conference hosted by UATP, experts discussed AI's impact on the NDC standard. American Airlines and United Airlines have direct sales of 55% and 70%, respectively. Some predict AI could eliminate the need for standards, and new products like MCP could replace NDC. Look-to-book ratios have worsened due to AI, requiring a rethink of commercial constructs.
Malaysia-based travel seller AA Aviation signed an agreement with Amadeus for an end-to-end solution including automation, mid- and back-office systems, and an online booking tool, to enhance operational efficiency and competitiveness.
Vueling is deploying Navitaire's (an Amadeus company) Edge Shopping solution to tackle high look-to-booked (LTB) ratios. The solution uses a distributed cache to reduce database transactions, automatically adjusts to demand, alleviates system pressure, and improves the shopping experience.
Travelport released updates to its Flights API, including NDC enhancements (such as Air Canada Flight Pass, bundled offers, disruption handling), GDS features (such as requesting penalties, flex search, mixed cabins), and exchange improvements.
Travelport's TripServices Flights API release AirReservation 26.11.86 supports adding Auxiliary Tour (TUR) and Surface (SUR) segments to an existing booking using Custom Auxiliary Segments, and deleting auxiliary segments from an existing booking using Cancel Workbench Items. This feature applies to GDS only.
Sabre announced the appointment of Niklas Andréen as Chief Commercial Officer, Airline Tech, to accelerate execution following its AI-native platform rebuild. Andréen will lead global airline sales, account management, and commercial strategy, driving adoption of Sabre Mosaic. Additionally, Darren Rickey was appointed Senior Vice President of Strategic Commercial Partnerships.
OpenAI is moving its Instant Checkout feature in ChatGPT to apps, tempering the idea that AI could render travel intermediaries obsolete. Industry experts note that travel transactions involve complex layers like pricing volatility and fare rules, making intermediaries hard to bypass. Following the news, stocks of OTAs like Expedia and Booking rose.
Singapore Airlines and Amadeus announced the renewal of their multiyear EDIFACT and NDC agreements, ensuring travel sellers have access to the airline's full range of fares, products, and services via the Amadeus platform. They will collaborate to increase NDC adoption, enhancing retailing capabilities and enabling more personalized offers.
HBX Group partnered with Outpayce from Amadeus to launch a payment program using its cloud platform, streamlining payments to hotels, airlines, etc., including virtual cards, B2B wallet, and reporting. Other news includes Hospitable Tasks, Stasher partnership with Victoria Coach Station, and more.
Visit Hungary has expanded its partnership with Amadeus to include travel agencies in targeted digital campaigns. Using Amadeus Media Solutions and Travel Intelligence data, Hungary achieved a 20% year-over-year increase in bookings via travel sellers and distributed demand more evenly to rural regions.
Lighthouse has launched The Hotels Network app, enabling direct hotel booking within ChatGPT. Powered by Connect AI, it's open to all hotels. Hotels can display brand-verified content, live rates, and direct-booking links without changing their websites or systems. Lighthouse calls it a new distribution channel, not an incremental improvement.
At ITB Berlin 2026, Sabre announced the completion of a multiyear technology rebuild, unveiling a unified AI-first platform, Sabre Mosaic, with cloud-native architecture, embedded Google Gemini, and a Travel Data Cloud with over 50 petabytes of data. The company aims to lead in agentic travel, offering intelligent retailing, autonomous workflows, and enterprise-grade governance.
Travel Token Marketplace (TTM) has acquired Chain4Travel, the developer of Web3 infrastructure Camino Network. TTM will integrate Chain4Travel's technology to become a platform that streamlines innovation, modernizes payments, and improves digital value creation for the travel sector. The Camino Network will remain decentralized, with TTM taking on its maintenance and technological evolution. This move is seen as part of a technological revolution in travel, combining AI, blockchain, and digital payment systems.
Amadeus reported Q4 and full-year 2025 results, with annual revenue up 6% to €6.5 billion, operating income up 8% to €1.8 billion, and profit up nearly 7% to €1.3 billion. Air IT solutions revenue grew 6.4% to €2.3 billion, hospitality and other solutions grew 6% to €1 billion, and air distribution revenue rose nearly 6% to €3 billion. The company also announced the acquisition of AI-driven corporate travel startup SkyLink.
This week's travel tech news: RMS launches automated invoicing and Advanced Payment Schedules; TFE Hotels partners with Like Magic; Peakwork deploys nexTOs; Klook signs MoU with Osaka; Katanox launches Katanox Capital; Revenue Analytics expands Cloudbeds partnership; Lufthansa adopts IATA Turbulence Aware; Navan integrates BoomPop; Travel Guard CEO retires.
Skyscanner has launched an app in ChatGPT, allowing travelers to search for flights using natural language, get live results, and compare options and prices. Users can also adjust dates or airports via message. The app is available in the UK and US for global flight options, with booking redirected to Skyscanner's website. This is part of a trend of travel brands launching apps in ChatGPT, following Expedia, Booking.com, Hyatt, and others.
Amadeus reported FY 2025 results: Group revenue increased 6.1% to €6,517.0 million, up 8.5% at constant currency; adjusted EBIT grew 10.2% to €1,893.8 million. Air Distribution revenue rose 5.9% with bookings up 2.8%. The company commits to low double-digit adjusted diluted EPS growth over the mid-term and launches a €500 million share repurchase program.
Amadeus announced the acquisition of SkyLink, a New York-based AI technology company specializing in conversational automation. SkyLink's AI architecture enables booking flights and hotels via chat platforms in seconds, with tens of thousands of bookings completed. The acquisition will enhance Amadeus's corporate travel capabilities and expand AI conversational technology to airlines, airports, and hospitality.
European low-cost carrier Volotea has chosen to adopt Navitaire Stratos, an Amadeus company, to accelerate its retailing transformation. The cloud-native, AI-powered dynamic retailing portfolio simplifies and personalizes the travel experience with tailored offers, an easy-to-use shopping cart, and expanded self-service options, while enabling more efficient operations and revenue growth.
Travelport Flights API release notes show new features for GDS Exchange APIs, including support for exchanges with exempt taxes, search by brand, and adding free seats and ancillaries during exchange. These updates aim to streamline exchange processes and increase flexibility.
Travelport Flights API release notes cover multiple updates, including NDC bundled offers, NDC disruption handling, Air Canada Flight Pass support, and Premium Flex Search for GDS. These enhancements aim to improve search, booking, and change management capabilities, providing developers and travel agents with more flexible tools.
Travelport Flights API release notes show a new Premium Flex Search feature, allowing flexible search dates and PCCs, supporting up to three PCCs and date ranges of up to three days before/after. This feature is GDS-only, not available for NDC, and requires specific customer provisioning.
Travelport's February 2026 Flights API release notes detail enhancements across GDS and NDC content. Key updates include support for exchanges on itineraries with exempt taxes (GDS), brand-based exchange search, expanded Premium Flex Search capabilities, NDC bundled offers and Air Canada Flight Pass, and loyalty cross-accrual. These changes aim to improve search flexibility, streamline exchange workflows, and bolster NDC support for travel sellers.
Travelport introduces the returnAllBrands object in Flight Specific Search reference payload requests, enabling the return of all brands in a fare family regardless of the anchoring flight's brand from the initial search. This feature is GDS-only and not supported for NDC. The update aims to provide travel sellers with more comprehensive brand options, enhancing search flexibility.