Skift columnist Colin Nagy presents his biannual list of innovators, highlighting places, experiences, and people that showed judgment and nerve in a crowded hospitality landscape. Examples include a converted prison, a school returned to a neighborhood, and an airport lounge designed for productive time.
At a WiT panel, executives from Booking.com, Expedia, Trip.com, and Webjet discussed AI's role in OTAs. Expedia's AI-drafted responses are accepted over 75% of the time; Trip.com's AI Trip Planner handles about 18% of itinerary planning. OTAs collectively process nearly half a trillion USD in transactions annually. AI excels in discovery, but trust remains crucial for transactions. Experience bundling shows potential, e.g., Trip.com sold ~20,000 hotel+concert packages in Hong Kong.
Marriott International's SVP of Global Partnerships, Lucy Werner, shared that consumers increasingly value experiences over points. Marriott offers VIP event access via Bonvoy Moments and partners with sports organizations like F1, NFL, and Visa. Additionally, partnerships with Uber and Starbucks enhance customer engagement. Future plans include unattended retail and invite-only events for high-net-worth individuals.
Tripadvisor announced that a selection of its Viator and Tripadvisor experiences will become bookable on Airbnb later this year. This marks a strategic shift for Airbnb, which had previously tried to scale its experiences business organically with limited success. In May 2025, Airbnb relaunched with about 3,000 landmark experiences across roughly 100 cities, but later narrowed focus to Paris. The partnership helps Airbnb scale experiences and provides Tripadvisor with a distribution channel.
Airbnb has partnered with Tripadvisor Group to bring a selection of Tripadvisor experiences to the Airbnb platform, with certain tours and activities bookable later this year. The move aligns with Airbnb's strategy to scale Experiences, as CEO Brian Chesky noted on the Q2 earnings call that they added 1,000 new experiences, increasing supply by nearly 80% year over year.
Airbnb is experimenting with experiences from content creators and plans to add them to the platform in the coming months. CEO Brian Chesky said creator experiences will become part of the future of Airbnb Experiences, especially as travel becomes more personalized and community-driven. Creators bring significant local demand, as fans book in their own cities. This comes as the creator economy faces pressure, and creators need new monetization avenues.
Phocuswright report notes APAC travel is 'digital-first', with AI personalization, predictive search, and automated planning accelerating online shift. Experiences spending is growing, with APAC travelers more willing to increase spend than Western counterparts. Loyalty is trending toward cross-brand ecosystem collaborations.