Google’s rapid shift toward AI-powered search is upending the travel marketing landscape faster than expected. Once a stable pillar of the tourism booking funnel, Google is now rolling out generative AI features—like Gemini’s AI Overviews—that fundamentally alter how travelers discover and engage with travel brands. Skift Research’s latest report reveals that the move from keyword-based to context-rich, conversational search is no longer a future scenario—it’s already here. With AI-generated content now appearing in a growing share of flight and hotel searches, travel marketers face an urgent need to rethink SEO, content strategy, and advertising models.

Airbnb’s new Services feature - offering extras like massages and private chefs - may appeal to guests but is sparking backlash from hosts. Critics say Airbnb profits from services carried out in host homes without offering compensation, control, or proper consent. The move raises concerns about fairness, liability, and the erosion of trust between Airbnb and its host community.

In an era where artificial intelligence is reshaping consumer behaviors, Expedia Group is proactively transforming its approach to travel planning. Jochen Koedijk, Expedia's Chief Marketing Officer, outlines the company's strategy to integrate AI technologies, aiming to streamline the journey from travel inspiration to booking. By leveraging partnerships with leading AI platforms and enhancing internal capabilities, Expedia seeks to remain at the forefront of the evolving digital travel landscape.

Key takeaways

Embracing AI-driven search: Recognizing the shift from traditional search engines to conversational AI tools like ChatGPT and Microsoft's Copilot, Expedia is adapting its services to align with these new user behaviors.
Innovative social media integration: Expedia is testing features that allow users to send social media content, such as Instagram Reels, to the platform. The AI then identifies the location and provides travel planning options, bridging the gap between inspiration and action.
Strategic partnerships: Collaborations with OpenAI and Microsoft have positioned Expedia as a launch partner for emerging AI tools, ensuring early access and integration into evolving technologies.
In-house expertise development: To swiftly adapt to the rapidly changing AI landscape, Expedia is investing in building robust internal marketing and AI capabilities.
Navigating AI-enhanced search engines: With Google's introduction of AI Overviews via its Gemini model, Expedia is analyzing traffic patterns to optimize performance, noting that while traffic may decrease, conversion rates could improve due to more qualified leads.
Collapsing the marketing funnel: Koedijk envisions a future where AI streamlines the consumer journey, reducing the steps from discovering travel inspiration to making a booking, thereby enhancing user experience and efficiency.

Booking.com could soon face damages claims worth millions of euros as 26 national hotel associations across Europe prepare to support litigation against the company. This follows a significant ruling by the European Court of Justice, which found that Booking.com's price parity clauses - contractual restrictions that prevent hotels from offering cheaper rates elsewhere - may reduce competition, though they are not automatically illegal under EU law. The ruling has reinvigorated long-standing grievances among hoteliers about the platform’s pricing power.

At the Preferred Global Conference 2025 in Singapore, a standout panel on social media and travel marketing revealed a powerful shift in how influence and commerce now intersect. Far from being just a top-of-funnel inspiration channel, social media today drives full-funnel engagement — from discovery to booking — through experimentation, community, and creator-led storytelling. Panelists, including TikTok's Eason Zhang, influencers, OTAs, and platform founders, emphasized that the new travel customer journey is nonlinear, dynamic, and deeply personal.

Key takeaways

The travel funnel is dead. long live the pinball: The traditional linear funnel has been replaced by a chaotic, bouncing customer journey. Travelers pinball between TikTok, Instagram, Reddit, Google, and even ChatGPT before booking. Social media isn’t just a top-of-funnel tool anymore — it’s embedded throughout the decision-making process.
TikTok drives discovery, but threads builds community: While TikTok still drives brand visibility, creators like Amira Rahmat find Threads delivers more authentic and viral engagement. In a sea of commoditized content (like sunsets), unique narratives and representation — such as a solo hijabi traveler - offer deeper resonance.

In Q1 2025, the world’s largest online travel agencies—Booking Holdings, Expedia Group, Airbnb, and Trip.com Group—collectively poured another $4.5 billion into marketing, continuing a trend that saw them spend $17.8 billion in 2024. This investment reflects an intensifying battle for customer acquisition, brand loyalty, and distribution control, as these companies diversify away from heavy reliance on Google by leveraging social media and AI. With Booking leading in direct channel growth, Expedia testing AI tools on Instagram, Airbnb scaling localized expansion, and Trip.com targeting aging travelers with storytelling, the marketing arms race shows no signs of slowing.

Airbnb, once the poster child of disruptive travel innovation, is entering a new phase of growth by expanding beyond home rentals. Inspired by platforms like WeChat and Amazon, CEO Brian Chesky envisions Airbnb as a lifestyle platform - an “Airbnb of Anything” - where users not only book homes, but also access services and experiences in their hometown or travel destinations. This transformation is Airbnb’s response to slowing revenue growth, aiming to increase user engagement, unlock new revenue streams, and evolve from an occasional-use app into a daily digital companion.

"Booking.com’s sudden termination of thousands of affiliate partnerships - primarily affecting travel bloggers and small content creators - has shaken the travel affiliate landscape. Framed as a move to cut costs and combat fraud, the decision has caused confusion and backlash, as affected affiliates face lost income and the logistical nightmare of updating or removing Booking.com links. While the company points to streamlining and risk management, critics warn of the damage done to long-standing trust and brand equity.

Key takeaways

Mass terminations: Booking.com ended many of its affiliate relationships with just 30 days’ notice, targeting smaller partners while retaining major players like airlines and OTAs.
Affiliate backlash: Affected creators expressed frustration over the abruptness and lack of explanation. Long-standing partners with years of content must now update hundreds of posts.
Cost-cutting & fraud prevention: The move aligns with Booking Holdings' broader effort to slash $400M–$450M in expenses. Smaller affiliates were seen as less efficient and more susceptible to fraud.
Shift to third parties: Booking.com is now routing smaller affiliates to platforms like CJ, Awin, and Affnetmedia, reducing its internal workload and affiliate-related liabilities.
Industry response: Competing platforms like BookDirect.com and Stay22 are seeing increased interest from disillusioned affiliates seeking alternatives.
Wider concerns: Experts caution that large-scale affiliate changes should not ignore the value that small content creators bring to brand trust and inspiration in the travel ecosystem."

Behind the polished facade of Booking.com’s global success lies a story of internal power struggles, cultural clashes, and controversial practices. In The Machine, three Dutch journalists peel back the curtain on the Amsterdam headquarters and reveal the human dramas that shaped the company - from executive firings and clandestine affairs to burnout-fueled booze-fests and covert data breaches. Drawing on extensive reporting and Booker Holdings’ own fact-checking, the book chronicles Booking.com’s rise from a scrappy Netherlands startup to the world’s leading hotel-booking platform, while exposing the tensions and tactics that drove its meteoric growth.