Expedia Group released The AI Trust Gap report, revealing a growing disconnect between how travelers use AI chatbots and agents and where they book. While AI is quickly becoming a go-to tool for trip planning and inspiration, travelers still overwhelmingly rely on trusted travel brands for booking and support.

Travelers don't have a technology problem with AI. They have a trust problem.

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The Expedia Group survey, which interviewed more than 5,700 adults across the U.S., U.K., and India, highlights a defining shift in travel: AI is reshaping discovery, but trust — not technology — is the deciding factor in where travelers transact.

Travelers embrace AI for discovery and planning

Expedia Group research shows that travelers are open to using AI chatbots and agents to help with planning a trip:

53% are comfortable letting AI suggest travel options
42% use or would use AI to monitor prices
40% use AI to help build itineraries
Nearly half (48%) say AI saves them time and helps them discover places they wouldn’t have found otherwise

The rise of generative AI is changing how travelers begin their journey, with a growing number starting without a specific destination in mind. Instead of searching for places and dates, users increasingly describe moods, motivations, or personal preferences, allowing AI tools to suggest tailored travel ideas. This shift reflects a broader move from transactional search to exploratory discovery, particularly among younger travelers. As adoption of conversational AI accelerates, destinationless search is becoming a defining trend in how travel demand is shaped.

Key takeaways

Destinationless search emerges: More travelers now begin trip planning without a fixed destination, relying on AI to guide discovery based on intent and preferences.
Intent replaces location as a starting point: Queries increasingly reflect emotions, needs, or identities rather than specific places or dates.

The travel industry is entering a new phase of disruption as major technology companies develop competing AI systems for travel planning and booking. Amazon, Meta, and Google are building distinct ecosystems with different architectures, data sources, and commercial models. These systems do not interoperate, meaning travel companies cannot rely on a single integration for visibility across platforms. As a result, fragmentation is emerging as the next major distribution challenge for the industry.

Key takeaways

Fragmented AI ecosystems: Amazon, Meta, and Google are developing separate AI-driven travel environments, each with its own logic, partners, and user experience, limiting cross-platform visibility.
Platform-specific visibility: Travel brands integrated into one ecosystem (e.g., Google) may not appear in others (e.g., Alexa or Meta), forcing companies to manage multiple distribution strategies.

"Booking.com has confirmed a data breach in which unauthorized parties accessed certain customer booking details. The company stated that financial information was not compromised, but personal data such as names, contact details, and reservation information may have been exposed. After detecting suspicious activity, Booking.com took steps to contain the issue, reset reservation PINs, and notify affected customers. The incident reflects a broader pattern of increasing cybercrime and fraud attempts targeting online travel platforms.

Key takeaways

Scope of exposed data: Hackers accessed booking-related information including names, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, and reservation details, but not financial data.
Unclear scale of impact: Booking.com has not disclosed how many customers were affected, leaving uncertainty about the full extent of the breach."

Chinese online travel agencies are leveraging a decade of domestic technological innovation to expand aggressively into global markets. By integrating artificial intelligence across their platforms, these companies are enhancing personalization, operational efficiency, and customer engagement. Their experience in China’s highly competitive and mobile-first environment is now becoming a strategic advantage abroad. As a result, global travel distribution is entering a new phase where Chinese players are increasingly influential.

Key takeaways

AI as a competitive advantage: Chinese OTAs are embedding AI across search, pricing, and customer service, enabling faster and more personalized user experiences.
Domestic scale as a testing ground: Intense competition and large user bases in China have allowed these companies to refine technologies before deploying them internationally.

The conversation about Google and agentic travel keeps returning to the same question: when agentic hotel booking goes live inside AI Mode, who wins and who loses?

It is a fair question. But it is also a narrow one.

The booking moment is one point in a journey that begins weeks before arrival and ends weeks after checkout — when the experience gets processed, rated, remembered, and eventually shapes the next booking decision. Google's infrastructure touches every one of those stages. The question worth asking is what happens when Gemini becomes the interface that ties them together.

Travel companies are increasingly adopting a hybrid service model that combines AI-powered agents with human support to deliver both efficiency and empathy. Executives from Navan and Expedia Group highlight that while AI can handle a growing share of customer interactions, it cannot fully replace the value of human connection. Instead, the industry is moving toward orchestrating both elements to create faster, more responsive, and more personalized service experiences. This shift reflects a broader recognition that technology enhances service delivery, but trust and reassurance still depend on human interaction.

Key takeaways

Hybrid service model: Travel companies are intentionally combining AI automation with human agents to balance efficiency with personalized support.
AI as the first line of service: AI agents increasingly handle routine inquiries, itinerary changes, and disruptions, reducing response times and operational costs.

Expedia Group’s latest research highlights a growing disconnect in the travel journey that directly impacts hotels. While guests are increasingly using AI tools to explore destinations, compare options, and shape their trips, they still turn to trusted brands and platforms to complete their bookings. This shift is fragmenting the path to purchase, with discovery moving into AI-driven environments while transactions remain anchored in established channels. For hotels, this creates both a visibility challenge and an opportunity to rethink how they engage travelers across the funnel.

Key takeaways

AI is reshaping the discovery phase: Travelers are increasingly using AI to explore destinations, build itineraries, and generate ideas, shifting early-stage demand away from traditional search channels.
Booking still happens in trusted ecosystems: Most guests prefer to complete hotel bookings through established brands such as OTAs or direct hotel channels rather than through AI interfaces.

Guest communication is shifting rapidly toward messaging platforms, and hotels need to respond accordingly. Today’s travelers expect fast, conversational, and mobile-first interactions, often preferring WhatsApp over traditional channels like email or phone. This shift is not just about service—it directly impacts conversion, upselling, and guest satisfaction. For hoteliers, WhatsApp is evolving into a strategic touchpoint across the entire guest journey.

Key takeaways

Guest expectations are changing: Travelers increasingly expect hotels to be available on WhatsApp, making it a baseline communication channel rather than a differentiator.
A new conversion channel: WhatsApp is not just for service; it can influence booking decisions, handle inquiries, and drive direct reservations.

Travel scams are becoming more sophisticated, targeting travelers across the entire journey — from booking hotels to contacting airlines and managing loyalty accounts. The New York Times highlights how misleading websites, fake customer service numbers, and hacked airline accounts can lead to significant financial losses and disrupted travel plans. These issues are often driven by intermediaries that mimic trusted brands or exploit moments of stress and urgency. As digital travel ecosystems grow more complex, travelers must become more vigilant in how they search, book, and manage their trips.

Key takeaways

Deceptive booking sites: Some online travel agencies mimic official hotel websites, leading travelers to unknowingly book through intermediaries that add hidden fees, upgrades, or restrictive conditions.
Search engine manipulation: Paid search results often place third-party booking sites above official hotel websites, increasing the risk of users clicking on misleading links.

"IMG has released the results of its 6th annual Travel Outlook Survey that gathered 1,000+ responses from IMG customers about their 2026 travel plans.

Travel planning support: advisors and AI

Findings reveal travelers are relying on expert guidance from both human and digital sources.

• 41% of respondents use a travel advisor or agent for at least some of their trips
• 33% of respondents say they are likely to use AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, etc.) to help plan travel in 2026

Among those likely to use AI, travelers expect to rely on it for:

• Recommendations – 75% of respondents
• Itinerary planning – 70% of respondents
• Discovery and ideas – 69% of respondents
• Comparisons – 55% of respondents
• Booking – 13% of respondents"

The travel industry is shifting from isolated AI tools toward a model where artificial intelligence acts as an orchestration layer across complex systems. Rather than relying on a single, all-purpose model, companies are increasingly deploying multiple specialized AI agents that handle distinct tasks and coordinate them across booking, distribution, and servicing workflows. This approach reflects the reality of travel’s highly interconnected ecosystem, where accuracy, reliability, and collaboration between systems are critical. As AI adoption scales, orchestration is becoming the defining factor that separates experimental deployments from operational impact.

Key takeaways

AI as an orchestration layer: The most effective AI strategies in travel focus on coordinating multiple specialized agents across systems, rather than relying on a single model to handle all tasks.
Specialized agents improve reliability: Smaller, task-specific AI agents (e.g., search, booking, disruption handling) tend to produce more accurate and consistent results than broad, general-purpose models.

Artificial intelligence is transforming how travelers discover and choose hotels, shifting search from a manual comparison process to an intelligent, guided experience. Instead of browsing multiple websites, travelers increasingly rely on AI to interpret their intent, filter options, and recommend the most relevant stays. This evolution reduces friction in the booking journey but also changes who controls visibility and demand. For hoteliers, the implication is clear: success will depend less on ranking in traditional search and more on being understood, structured, and surfaced by AI systems.

Key takeaways

Discovery is moving beyond traditional search: AI assistants increasingly shape which hotels travelers see and consider, reducing the role of classic keyword-based search rankings.
Visibility depends on structured and accessible data: Hotels that provide rich, well-organized content—rates, availability, amenities, policies—are more likely to be surfaced accurately by AI systems.