As autonomous bots muscle into trip planning, the biggest booking platforms roll out their own AI to keep customers—and suppliers—on-platform

In the span of a few quarters, AI has stopped being a novelty in travel and become an existential question for the companies that power most online bookings. A new wave of ‘agentic’ assistants—software that can plan trips, navigate websites, and complete purchases—is suddenly capable of doing the scut work once handled by consumers, call centers, and even human travel agents. From Google’s expanding AI Mode in Search to OpenAI’s Operator, these bots can parse preferences, search across the web, and—in some cases—transact. The world’s largest booking platforms are responding in kind, racing to deploy their own AI so that the future of travel is automated on their turf, not siphoned off by someone else’s bot.

The threat: agents who book without you

Google’s AI Mode, now rolling out with agentic features in more markets, points to what comes next: type a nuanced request and get not only recommendations but concrete options—with the assistant able to make restaurant reservations and, soon, other bookings within guardrails. OpenAI’s Operator goes a step further in spirit, using a browser to click, scroll and fill forms like a person would. Together, they preview a world where the ‘search → click → compare → book’ funnel compresses into a single delegated instruction.

For online travel agencies (OTAs) that monetize the funnel itself, that’s a jolt. If consumers increasingly let a general-purpose agent handle the chore of assembling a trip, the platforms that aggregate supply must either power those agents—or become agents themselves.

Platform countermoves

Expedia Group has leaned hardest into automation where it already hurts—or helps—the bottom line: service. Its AI service agent now fields well over a hundred million conversations a year and resolves more than half of traveler requests without a phone call, with satisfaction scores markedly higher than live-call interactions. The same summarization and reasoning tools that speed support are quietly moving upstream into shopping flows across Expedia and Hotels.com.

Booking Holdings is pushing toward what CEO Glenn Fogel calls the ‘connected trip’—a stitched journey from flights and stays to ground transport and attractions—backed by generative AI. Booking.com’s AI Trip Planner and smart filters have matured from experiments into core product upgrades, and the company is testing new discovery and merchandising channels. Most telling: Booking is partnering where travelers already spend time, including a new tie-up that lets TikTok users browse and book hotels without leaving the app.

Airbnb, meanwhile, has declared it will become an “AI‑first” application. It started in customer service—rolling out an agent that cut the share of guests needing a human by double digits—but says agents will move into search and booking. CEO Brian Chesky has even floated partnering with the major chatbots so an Airbnb agent can plan and manage trips on a guest’s behalf.

In Asia, Trip.com Group introduced Trip.Planner, which builds a bookable itinerary by asking as few as three questions—destination, duration and travel style—then pipes in real‑time pricing, availability and verified inventory. India’s MakeMyTrip has upgraded ‘Myra,’ a multilingual, voice‑led planning assistant that answers complex, conversational queries with far less latency than the bots of old. Agoda added a property ‘Ask Me Anything’ bot that surfaces hotel‑specific Q&A to help users decide faster. Skyscanner, a global metasearch player, has integrated with OpenAI’s Operator to explore how browser‑powered agents could find and compare options for users.

Distribution detours

The arms race isn’t confined to travel apps. Distribution is atomizing: Booking.com’s partnership with TikTok turns creator content into an end‑to‑end booking path, complete with creator commissions. Banks are getting in on it too. Lloyds in the UK now offers flights and hotels inside its mobile app using Hopper’s AI platform, part of a broader shift that sees travel booking embed where people already manage their money, messages, or media.

Data moats, walled gardens

Why do incumbents think they can withstand the bot onslaught? Data, scale, and muscle memory. OTAs say years of clickstreams, price curves and post‑stay reviews feed models that are hard to replicate. eDreams ODIGEO, for instance, touts tens of billions of daily AI predictions that anticipate demand and personalize offers. At the same time, the big platforms are quietly contemplating how open to be with their content. If general‑purpose agents become a major traffic source, expect tougher terms, rate‑limiting, and API gating for web‑scraping bots—or exclusive partnerships that keep inventory inside sanctioned agents.

Regulators circle

Even as features ship, compliance and consumer protection are reshaping playbooks. In Europe, the Commission designated Booking.com a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act, triggering strict rules around self‑preferencing, data use and access. In the U.S., Booking agreed to a multimillion‑dollar settlement with Texas over so‑called ‘junk fees,’ and the Federal Trade Commission has pressed for total‑price displays. Meanwhile the EU AI Act—now crystallizing—will require clear disclosures when users interact with chatbots and set expectations around transparency and safety for general‑purpose AI. For travel brands, the message is blunt: innovation can’t come at the expense of clarity on pricing, consent and accountability.

What changes for travelers and hotels

For travelers, the upside is obvious: fewer tabs, faster answers, itineraries that respect constraints like budget, accessibility and time. But today’s systems still stumble in the messy middle—irregular operations, overbookings, or edge cases that require judgment and negotiation. Experts advise treating AI as a speed boost for research and routine tasks, with human support as the backstop when something goes sideways.

For hotels and other suppliers, agentic AI is both threat and opportunity. On the one hand, autonomous shopping compresses the window to influence a booking decision—raising the stakes for content quality and rate parity. On the other, better pre‑booking Q&A, smarter matching and friction‑free service can reduce costly contacts and churn. Some hoteliers see a chance to claw back share if they can make their own assistants competent enough to satisfy guests directly. Others are leaning into the platforms’ reach, experimenting with creator‑driven merchandising and richer retailing of ancillaries.

The next six months

Expect rapid, uneven progress. Google will keep expanding AI Mode’s agentic abilities and geography; OpenAI and rivals will push browser‑native agents toward more reliable, multi‑step task completion. OTAs will ship more vertical ‘skills’—from dynamic bundling to refund automation—and test stricter controls on third‑party agents crawling their sites. In parallel, look for more unexpected distribution deals—social platforms, banks and telecom ‘super‑apps’ integrating travel—as booking becomes a feature, not a destination.

The strategic question hasn’t changed, but the clock speed has. If AI agents are going to plan and book trips, who supplies the agent, who supplies the inventory, and who owns the relationship when things go wrong? By the next peak season, the answer may be: all of the above, all at once.

Sources

• Google: “AI Mode in Search gets new agentic features and expands globally” (Aug 21, 2025).

• Tom’s Guide: “Google Search’s new AI Mode can now book reservations … rolling out worldwide” (Aug 2025).

• OpenAI: “Introducing Operator” (Jan 2025); TechCrunch coverage (Jan 2025).

• Expedia Group Newsroom: “Expedia Group Sets the Standard with AI-Powered Service Agent” (May 12, 2025).

• Skift / Business Insider / Customer Experience Dive: Brian Chesky on Airbnb’s ‘AI‑first’ plans and customer‑service agent impact (Aug 2025).

• Trip.com Group: Trip.Planner press and earnings‑call remarks (Aug 2025).

• Times of India / Economic Times: MakeMyTrip’s ‘Myra’ multilingual, voice‑led assistant (Aug–Sep 2025).

• JD Supra roundup citing Agoda’s Property AMA bot and Booking.com–TikTok partnership (Aug–Sep 2025); Business Insider and PhocusWire coverage of TikTok x Booking.com (Aug 2025).

• Lloyds Bank press release on in‑app travel booking with Hopper (May 28, 2025).

• European Commission: DMA gatekeeper designation for Booking.com (May 13, 2024); Claims Journal/Reuters on Texas ‘junk fee’ settlement (Aug 26, 2025).