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For all the hype of artificial intelligence, it still hasn’t changed how most travelers plan and book their trips. But there are definitely some new features available, and one of Skift’s 2025 Megatrends is that you’ll soon start to notice even more.
To see where things stand, we turned to our answer engine, Ask Skift 2.0 , and also we included additional reporting about what’s to come.
What Ask Skift Said
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is significantly altering the landscape of travel booking, with profound implications for how consumers interact with travel platforms and how these platforms operate. According to Kayak’s CEO Steve Hafner, 2025 is expected to witness a pivotal shift where the first successful commercial agreement between an AI engine and a major travel player could act like “a dam breaking.” This suggests a surge in AI-driven collaborations and innovations across the travel industry.
One of the key changes AI is bringing to travel booking is the potential to shift consumer behavior away from traditional travel sites and apps. As AI models like ChatGPT provide instant answers and solutions, consumers might increasingly rely on social media and AI platforms for their travel needs, bypassing traditional channels. This could lead to a decline in the usage of dedicated travel apps and websites.
Furthermore, travel companies are developing their own large language models to keep pace with AI advancements. For instance, Kayak is building its own AI model while also collaborating with Google’s Gemini to leverage AI capabilities. However, there is concern that even with superior proprietary AI, users might default to broader platforms like Gemini for convenience.
Additionally, AI is enabling travel companies to tap into social media as a performance marketing channel. Influencers, now considered the new power brokers in travel, play a critical role in shaping consumer decisions. Platforms like Expedia have already integrated influencer marketing into their booking process, allowing curated recommendations to be directly bookable. Kayak plans to employ a mass-market approach, enabling users to share their favorite destinations on social media and earn rewards if bookings are made through their recommendations.
These developments highlight AI’s transformative impact on the travel booking process, making it more integrated with social media and personalized through advanced data analytics. As AI continues to evolve, it is set to redefine the travel industry’s dynamics, influencing both consumer behavior and business strategies.
What Else You Need to Know
Upending Travel Planning: Thomas Reiner, partner of Altimeter Capital, said recently at the Skift Megatrends event in New York that AI would completely disrupt the search paradigm in the travel industry, adding the boom in AI-generated search could hurt online travel agencies and metasearch engines.
Reiner also predicted AI assistants would represent the main way consumers book travel in the future. “Everyone will have a personal assistant in their pocket that can do everything for them,” Reiner said.
“And so whether that’s booking a hotel, a flight, calling an Uber or Waymo or a Tesla FSD RoboTaxi — it’ll be able to do all that for you. It’ll have memory of who you are, what your preferences are, and it’ll just be easy.”
OpenAI recently said it’s releasing a digital assistant that can autonomously complete online searches and make purchases for travel, events, and restaurants. OpenAI representatives showed during a live demo how the new tool, called Operator, can pull up hotels that a user requested and book them.
Personalizing Travel: Users who have added Expedia Group’s generative AI travel assistant Romie to messaging chats in WhatsApp or iMessage can receive personalized recommendations based on their texts. Romie can even help travelers rearrange itineraries in the event of a trip disruption.
In addition, Google has introduced AI-generated summaries at the top of traditional search results called AI Overviews, which can generate an itinerary with flight and hotel options. And users on Booking.com can now ask the site’s AI trip planner property-specific questions after asking the chatbot to perform a general search for hotels.
DMOs Turn to AI to Assist in Travel Planning: Skift reported last November that a growing number of destination marketing organizations (DMOs) are incorporating AI into their operations. Enjoy Illinois, the website run by the Illinois Office of Tourism, has developed an AI chatbot named Big Lincoln that can provide links to relevant information, including answers to questions users may have about driving on Route 66.
In addition, AI trip planning website Mindtrip launched a business-to-business setup called Mindtrip for Business last November that serves tourism boards and DMOs. Mindtrip had already been working with six organizations to pilot a product.
Serving Up Travel Inspiration: Generative AI is often viewed as a source of travel inspiration, with 36% of the 1,500 travel executives surveyed at the Skift Global Forum last September stating that inspiration and ideation were currently generative AI’s primary uses.
Alaska Airlines operates an AI tool enabling users to ask for suggested flight destinations based on a general topic of interest — for example, a location famous for beaches or one home to popular ski resorts.
The Netherlands’ flag carrier KLM also believes the booming technology can inspire travelers to book flights. The airline launched Ask Atlas last April, an AI-powered recommendation platform that invites users to create their ideal vacation destinations by making selections in categories such as their interests, preferred architectural styles and travel companions.
