Travel's Agentic AI Future Faces Infrastructure and Cost Gaps
At Skift Global Forum, Steve Singh, Executive Chairman & CEO of Spotnana, and Elena Avila, EVP of Travel Distribution at Amadeus, discussed what must be in place for AI agents to work in travel. Singh said servicing accounts for 90% of the cost structure and 90% of dissatisfaction in a travel experience, and that agentic services can consistently deliver the quality of the top 5-10% of human agents. Avila said the industry needs shared standards for identity, data, and interoperability, without which agentic AI won't deliver its value. Singh estimated five to seven years to get there, noting the industry has 70 years of history working against shared standards. Avila also said compute costs…
Impact and considerations
Agentic AI is seen as the next phase of travel distribution, but missing service-layer, identity, data, payment, and interoperability standards, plus costs arriving before revenue, will determine the return timeline and ecosystem direction of current AI investments by business-travel and distribution players.
Key points
- Singh said servicing accounts for 90% of the cost structure and 90% of dissatisfaction in a travel experience, and agentic services can consistently deliver the quality of the top 5-10% of human agents.
- Avila said the entire industry ranks post-booking servicing as a top priority, and cracking it is key to the industry doing very well.
- Avila said the industry needs shared standards for identity, data, and interoperability, without which agentic AI won't deliver its value.
- Singh said the industry has 70 years of history working against shared standards and estimated five to seven years to get there.
- Avila said compute costs and look-to-book ratios are rising, and revenue won't simply arrive.
- An audience poll was split: 40% disagreed that shared standards for AI agents will emerge by 2030, while 34% agreed.
- Singh and Avila both forecast a shift in where value is created and captured in travel distribution, with who pays for agentic infrastructure as the core commercial question.
Sources and time
- Primary source
- Skift
- Other sources
- 0
- First source publication
- 25 Sept 2026, 23:23
- Page published
- 26 Sept 2026, 00:02
- Last updated
- 25 Sept 2026, 23:23
- Original links
- Skift Feed：How to Build for Travel's Agentic Future (opens in a new tab)Primary source · en · Published 25 Sept 2026, 23:23