Skift与Aven Hospitality联合举办网络研讨会，探讨AI如何改变旅行者的酒店发现与预订方式。研讨会将发布覆盖美国、英国和澳大利亚4000名近期酒店住客的消费者研究，分析旅行者如何在整个酒店旅程中使用和信任AI、当酒店信息不准确时会发生什么，以及这些体验如何影响预订决策。Aven Hospitality首席营收官Noreen Henry与朗廷酒店集团战略、技术与创新高级副总裁Sean Seah将参与讨论。会议还将探讨酒店如何确保信息准确、完整、最新且一致，以便被AI系统理解和检索，并提升直接预订竞争力。
Hawaii-based management company Castle Resorts & Hotels rebuilt its enterprise digital platform, CastleResorts.com, using an AI-assisted development model to aggregate its multi-property portfolio under a single direct-booking architecture. Its core technical approach is a unified booking interface that queries and routes guest searches across five distinct reservation systems spanning 20 properties in Hawaii, Reno and Auckland. The project bypassed traditional software agency models, completing the build in under four months for a low five-figure sum ($10k-$50k range), versus the typical 12-month timeline and high six-figure budget. The platform also structures its architecture and schema…
Ant International, Visa and Mastercard announced a collaboration to establish a universal 'Know-Your-Agent' (KYA) interoperability framework, paired with the global rollout of Ant International's open-sourced Agentic Mobile Protocol (AMP). Acquirers including Adyen, Checkout.com, Fiserv and Worldline are building the payment plumbing for agentic commerce. HT research shows 33% of hotel guests already use generative AI tools to explore and select hotels, and 17.1% cite generative AI platforms as their primary discovery channel. The article warns that if a hotel's PMS and payment gateway cannot process KYA security tokens, the property becomes invisible to AI agents, which may default to OTAs.
Choice Hotels and Hilton adopt different strategies in Google AI search: Choice enables native checkout within Google, while Hilton uses AI search as a discovery tool, redirecting users to its website for booking. This reflects different choices on transaction ownership and customer relationship control.
Hilton expands its generative AI architecture across Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Claude, while rolling out its proprietary AI Planner. All third-party integrations redirect final checkout to Hilton.com to protect direct customer relationships.
Airbnb is quietly piloting "direct booking links" that offer participating hosts a reduced service fee—reported at 6% to 10% versus the standard 15.5%—when guests book through host-shared links distributed via social media, email, or message boards. Despite the "direct booking" label, the reservation still runs entirely on Airbnb's platform, checkout, and payments, retaining benefits like AirCover; the only change is pricing based on whether the host or the marketplace originated the demand. The move comes as Airbnb transitions all hosts to a single host-paid 15.5% fee model by year-end, and as many operators push to drive bookings to their own websites to reduce platform reliance. While cu…
Leaders from five iconic New Zealand tourism brands (NZSki, RealNZ, Skyline, AJ Hackett Bungy, Ngāi Tahu Tourism) discussed that connection, not adrenaline, defines iconic experiences. Topics included high direct booking rates (up to 85%), OTA value in new markets, social media content creation, AI's impact on discovery, and the shift from 'seeing' to 'becoming' in the experience economy.
Hotel booking technology provider GuestCentric and interactive video platform HOVR have announced a strategic partnership that activated HOVR's video engagement technology across 865 independent hotel booking engines in a single morning. The deployment was achieved through a single master integration, requiring zero code or manual setup from individual hotel staff. The interactive video is merged with GuestCentric's AI-powered booking engine, providing real-time personalization and dynamic upselling, designed to increase direct booking conversion rates and average booking value.
The article argues that hotels lose direct bookings to OTAs because their websites fail to provide specific information to manage traveler expectations. By improving room, location, and offers pages, hotels can increase direct bookings and reduce OTA commissions.
HOVR and Cloudbeds announced a strategic partnership to integrate interactive video technology into Cloudbeds' direct booking engine. Independent hotels can deploy video commerce and UGC with a single line of code, boosting conversion rates. The integration provides an analytics dashboard to track engagement and conversion lift.
PhocusWire reports AI is changing hotel discovery, with travelers increasingly using AI platforms over traditional search engines. Phocuswright data shows US travelers using AI for travel research rose from 33% in H1 2025 to 56% in H1 2026, while general search engine use dropped from 51% to 35%. Experts advise hotels to optimize for AI visibility to protect direct bookings.
In Q1 2026, major OTAs increased marketing spend. Booking Holdings invested $2.1 billion, up 16% YoY, representing 38% of revenue. Expedia Group's sales and marketing spend reached $1.9 billion, up 6% YoY, 54% of revenue. Airbnb invested $751 million, up 33% YoY, 28% of revenue. Despite AI-driven efficiency efforts, companies continue to boost spending to compete for customers and highlight direct channel growth.
DirectBooker, an aggregator connecting hotels to AI assistants, has announced supply agreements with five hotel chains including BWH Hotels and Radisson Hotel Group, and launched an app in ChatGPT and a connector in Claude. Founded by former Tripadvisor and Google Travel executives, the company uses model context protocol (MCP) to deliver real-time availability and rates to AI platforms. DirectBooker aims to help hotels capture direct bookings in AI-driven search, reducing reliance on OTAs.
Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta said the company plans to open its app to more large language models, including Gemini and OpenAI, in the coming weeks. Despite rapid AI developments, he doesn't see the distribution landscape changing significantly anytime soon. Hilton will use AI to become more efficient and continue building direct business, which already accounts for over 80% of its business.
Short-term rental platforms like Airbnb and Vrbo face shifting commission fees and limited customer data ownership, prompting hosts and property managers to seek alternatives. Emerging trends include subscription models, such as Lake.com and Savvy, and free tiers like Hospitable's $0 PMS and Houfy's free platform with upsells.
Amtrak, the U.S. National Railroad Passenger Corporation, has officially joined the Concur TripLink ecosystem. The article says the integration lets business travelers book directly on Amtrak.com and the Amtrak mobile app, connect their Amtrak loyalty program, capture negotiated rates, and automatically sync the itinerary and e-receipt with SAP Concur solutions. Amtrak also features a direct connect integration with Concur Travel, letting travelers book a train reservation the same way they book air, hotel, or car reservations. The article says Concur TripLink serves a growing ecosystem of air, hotel, rail, and car suppliers, is used by over 14,000 customers, and supports more than 11 milli…
SAP Concur and The Wall Street Journal podcast explores how emerging technologies like AI are transforming corporate travel management. The article highlights trends like direct booking and user experience, and the risks of employees booking outside the corporate booking tool, such as cost overruns and compliance issues.
SAP Concur and GBTA researched business traveler booking behavior. The study found that two-thirds of travelers with mandated policies book through alternative channels. 40% expect to use OTAs more, and 37% expect to book directly more. Additionally, 24-37% expect the organization to be responsible for their safety on leisure days.
At GBTA 2018, SAP Concur announced that Delta Air Lines joined the Concur TripLink network. With TripLink, companies can automatically capture bookings made directly with Delta outside Concur Travel, enabling spend visibility, policy application, and duty of care. This collaboration aims to enhance transparency and choice for corporate customers.
SAP Concur announced TripLink admin controls, letting travel managers choose how integrated travel suppliers are presented and whether direct bookings are allowed or discouraged. It also announced Concur Tax Assurance by VATBox, Concur Detect by Oversight, and COVID-19 travel guidance in TripIt.
A SAP Concur blog post discusses traveler tracking and duty of care challenges. It cites GBTA data showing 42% of travelers prefer to book directly on a supplier's website. It also notes one-third of travelers in the UK, Germany, and France still book directly with suppliers at least once a year despite having access to company online booking tools, and 40% of travelers who used an OBT in the past year also booked directly with a supplier at least once in the same period. It states that if travelers don't book through company channels, employers can't get itinerary information in time, affecting duty of care.