The Future of Online Travel in an AI-Pushed World | Foster Garvey PC

Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, September 12, 2025, is under. This week’s Update contains a heavy does of AI-related tales, together with studies on the main OTAs’ ongoing AI efforts. Enjoy.

• Major Platforms Endorse EU Online Ratings Code of Conduct. This previous week, a number of main on-line journey platforms (TripAdvisor, Expedia Group and Booking.com) endorsed the EU’s ‘Code of Conduct for Online Ratings and Reviews for Tourism Accommodation.’ The voluntary Code is open to suppliers, business associations, on-line platforms and client associations, and people who endorse the code commit to make sure real on-line evaluations and rankings.
• Researchers Release Report on Effect of AI Agents on Traditional Customer Loyalty. Researchers at Florida Atlanta University have launched an attention-grabbing report on the anticipated results of AI-enabled brokers on buyer loyalty within the hospitality and journey business. As AI brokers turn out to be more and more expert (and trusted) at making shoppers’ selections, journey business members must re-think conventional loyalty methods (e.g., loyalty to a selected algorithm or ecosystem vs. loyalty to a model). A replica of the report is out there by the hyperlink under.
• Anything and Everything Is Now Possible at Airbnb. I’m paraphrasing after all, however Airbnb co-founder and CEO, Brian Chesky, is kind of bullish on the chances that AI and AI native functions may imply for the short-term rental platform and its future companies. In remarks at an investor convention final week, Chesky famous that mature companies that Airbnb had beforehand dismissed had been now again on the desk due to the brand new interface prospects related to AI. Although Chesky didn’t go into element about what these companies could be, commentators recommend that they probably embody accommodations (which Airbnb introduced in August of this yr) and may embody flights, experiences and, in accordance with Chesky, extra providers for rental hosts.
• Social Media and AI Playing an Increasingly Important Role in Online Booking Platforms’ Marketing Efforts. Yes, on-line reserving platforms proceed to extend their advertising investments. Nothing new there. But the story right here is the place these investments are actually being made. Yes, conventional search stays vital (at the least for now, however probably much less so), however investments in social media (assume Booking.com’s just lately introduced partnership with TikTok) and synthetic intelligence (assume the OTAs’ virtually weekly bulletins of recent partnerships with the main AI platforms) are more and more the main target. According to Expedia CEO, Ariane Gorin, for Expedia, visitors generated by its investments in AI remains to be small, however it’s rising quickly and converts at a a lot larger fee.
• How Do Travelers Really Use AI Platforms? This previous week I sat in on Propellic’s presentation of outcomes from its latest behavioral examine of how vacationers use Google’s AI Mode when trying to find journey. For me, the examine revealed some key findings, together with the (probably quick time period) benefit that suppliers could have over third celebration on-line platforms. I’d encourage everybody to take the time to learn the abstract report that’s accessible on Propellic’s web site (or watch the related webinar).

Have an incredible week everybody.

Tripadvisor, Expedia, Booking, Eu Travel Tech Endorse EU Online Rating Code
September 11, 2025 through PhocusWire
The European Union’s new code of conduct is directed at improved transparency and on-line evaluation reliability for shoppers and journey companies.

FAU Study: Hotels Must Rethink Loyalty as AI Agents Take Over Travel Planning
September 11, 2025 through Hospitality Net
The rise of synthetic intelligence brokers will introduce a brand new layer of complexity in how the hospitality business navigates buyer loyalty, in accordance with a conceptual paper, “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agents and the Future of Customer Loyalty,” from 4 researchers at Florida Atlantic University. Before client reliance …

Booking Holdings Bets on Agentic AI to Challenge Big Tech
September 11, 2025 through Skift
Booking Holdings Chief Financial Officer Ewout Steenbergen stated the corporate is betting that it may possibly develop agentic AI in a approach that may give it an edge in journey.

Airbnb’s Brian Chesky: AI Opens New Markets, ‘Everything Is Now Back on the Table’
September 10, 2025 through Skift
Airbnb’s Brian Chesky stated the emergence of native AI apps — there at the moment are not any in journey — adjustments the ballgame, and the corporate can think about getting into new companies that it beforehand thought had been off limits. Airbnb Flights, anybody? Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky instructed traders Tuesday …

Study Tracks How Travel Shoppers Use Google’s AI Mode
September 9, 2025 through PhocusWire
Artificial intelligence (AI) is quickly turning into a extra distinguished facet of journey planning and reserving, with the rise of pure language search and large-language fashions (LLMs) like ChatGPT. But Google can be gearing up for the way forward for search, which is able to probably embody its AI Mode characteristic, launched earlier this …

OTAs’ High Hopes for Social, AI Channels as Q2 Marketing Spend Hits $5B
September 8, 2025 through PhocusWire
OTAs want to drive effectivity as they diversify from efficiency advertising to different channels, together with social and AI-powered search.