Cendyn has joined Google's closed beta for Search Campaigns for Travel, a consolidated ad architecture powered by AI Max. It integrates live ARI feeds and first-party DMP data to improve bidding accuracy. The article highlights that hotel IT must ensure CRS systems can handle high-frequency ad queries, making marketing ROI an infrastructure performance metric.
In response to EU Digital Markets Act enforcement, Google is scaling back travel search features for European users. The revamped results page will show separate units for third-party aggregators and direct suppliers, but users can no longer filter by travel dates, check live pricing, or use descriptive tags like 'budget' or 'boutique'. Additionally, Google is removing its vacation rentals unit from European search results as early as September 8, though feeds still power results on Google Maps and google.com/hotels.
Google has fully launched agentic hotel booking in AI Mode, with partners including Expedia, Booking.com, Hilton, etc., allowing users to search in natural language and book directly via Google Pay. Meanwhile, Agoda has been named Official Travel Partner for the inaugural Eurovision Song Contest Asia, to be held in Bangkok in November 2026. Additionally, extreme heat is beginning to dent traveler perceptions of Mediterranean summers, with France hit hardest.
Choice Hotels has partnered with Google as an early launch partner for hotel booking in AI Mode in Search. U.S. travelers can state preferences in natural language, view visual comparisons, loyalty redemption costs, and complete reservations via Google Pay without leaving Search. The integration leverages Choice's cloud migration, signaling a shift from brand websites to agentic search APIs.
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.
Google introduces hotel booking in AI Mode in Search, allowing US English-speaking users to discover and book hotels through conversational search. Initial partners include 10 travel websites and hotel chains such as Choice Hotels, Hilton, and Wyndham.
Spirit Airlines' $10 million data sale to Google includes extensive employee records (3.4 million payroll records, 100 million emails, 80,000 email accounts, and employee data dating back to 1986) plus commercial assets like pricing models and booking curves, but excludes customer and loyalty program data. The Association of Flight Attendants objected, delaying the hearing to September 9, arguing privacy protections are consumer-facing while the payload is employee-facing.
Google is rolling out hotel booking within AI Mode in the U.S., allowing travelers to search, compare, and book hotels through natural language chat and pay with Google Pay. The hotel or OTA remains the merchant of record, handling charges, confirmations, and support. Launch partners include Booking.com, Expedia, Hilton, Marriott, IHG, Choice, Wyndham, Priceline, Hotels.com, and Trip.com. Google emphasizes the tool is not fully autonomous, but it reduces partners' visibility into the customer's decision journey.
This opinion piece by Skift founder Rafat Ali argues that Kayak remains the best travel search tool, despite parent Booking Holdings writing it down by $457 million in October 2025 and co-founder and CEO Steve Hafner stepping down in February 2026. The article contends that Kayak's struggles stem from rising Google-driven customer-acquisition costs and stalled revenue (around $500 million, down from ~$600 million pre-Covid), not a failing product. Meanwhile, competitors like Trivago and Skyscanner are growing but require higher ad spend. Booking is investing in a new AI travel brand, Lola, built by Kayak's founders, rather than leveraging Kayak's 21 years of brand recognition and user base.
Skift Daily Briefing reports that Google acquired Spirit Airlines' pricing and booking data in bankruptcy for $10 million, considered a bargain. Additionally, the UK launches a crackdown on hidden travel fees with fines up to 10% of global revenue, and Delta's pilot scheduling talks break down ahead of the busy fall season.
Skift's Good Morning Hospitality podcast discusses hotel industry success metrics, suggesting net unit growth may be the wrong measure. It also covers Minor International's planned $1 billion hotel REIT, Google's acquisition of Spirit Airlines reservation data for AI recommendations, and the rise of creator travel content affecting traveler trust.
Google will spend $10 million to purchase data from defunct Spirit Airlines, including emails, chats, customer complaint data, and data related to finance, accounting, operations, website analytics, and the Free Spirit loyalty program. Google was the highest bidder in a court-supervised liquidation auction, outbidding Mercor's $7.5 million offer. Google stated it will use the data to improve its products and AI models, emphasizing that data will be rigorously scrubbed of personally identifiable information by a third party.
Google won a bankruptcy auction for Spirit Airlines' business data and software code for $10 million, including finance, operations, and revenue management data, as well as approximately 3.4 million payroll records, 100 million emails, and 80,000 email accounts. The data will be used to improve Google's AI models and products.
IHG Hotels & Resorts highlighted its involvement in Google's agentic AI booking pilot during its H1 2026 results, which enables guests to book hotels directly within Google's AI Mode. IHG is also part of Google's Direct Offers pilot, surfacing promotions in AI-assisted trip planning. Additionally, IHG is upgrading its tech stack, including a cloud-based PMS expected in 4,000 hotels by end of 2026. CEO Elie Maalouf said AI has unlocked revenue uplift and market share gains.
Google Maps is embedding AI hotel search into its location-based platform. Users can now chat with Ask Maps to search for hotels and get actual pricing and availability, not estimates. A new feature can integrate users' Gmail itineraries for personalized suggestions. For now, hotel functionality stops at discovery and comparison; booking is not yet available, but Google has begun limited U.S. testing of agentic hotel booking with partners like Amadeus.
Google has begun a limited US test of agentic hotel booking within Search's AI Mode, with Booking Holdings CEO confirming it as one of the first partners. This builds on Google's November plans for an AI-driven flight and hotel booking experience. Google's new Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) could enable agents to transact directly within a chat session. Major travel players including Booking, Expedia, Marriott, Wyndham, IHG, and infrastructure providers Amadeus and Sabre are collaborating. While Google insists it has no ambition to become an OTA, the infrastructure it is assembling could enable end-to-end AI travel booking in its flagship search engine.
Trivago has filed an antitrust suit against Google, alleging that Google systematically favors its own hotel metasearch over competitors, harming competition. The suit is based on EU antitrust provisions and German competition law, seeking full compensation. Trivago also reported Q1 2026 results: revenue increased 15% YoY to €142.9 million, but net loss was €7.3 million.
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.