Every travel commerce budget heading into 2027 carries a line for AI, and most of those lines are sized to the bookings AI drives today. That number is small. Booking Holdings told investors large language models account for well under 1% of its room nights, and Bernstein’s Richard Clarke put AI referrals below 2% at Booking and Marriott.
Waiting looks prudent. The better input is which commercial positions harden while volume stays low, and four of them are moving this year.
Build vs Wait on Direct AI Booking
When Meta’s Muse agent books a flight, it runs through Duffel’s direct airline connection, with loyalty numbers and cancellations supported. When Skift asked it for a New York hotel roomit opened its own browser and chose between Expedia and Hotels.com unprompted.
The airlines in that search have a defined commercial relationship with the agent. The hotels were shopped by software they never signed with.
Building has limits too. Google’s agentic hotel booking in AI Mode keeps the hotel or OTA as merchant of record, but passes along only name, payment, occupancy, and property. The conversation that produced the booking stays with Google. An integration buys a place in the transaction. Price it as distribution access, with little customer data attached.
Skift Commerce Summit puts this to the room. The opening hotel-versus-OTA debate asks what an OTA booking is worth to a hotel owner, and the closing scorecard has the audience vote on whether to build AI-ready capabilities before returns are clear.
The Payments Rail Is a Loyalty Decision
Muse pays airlines with a one-time virtual card through Link by Stripe. Google’s tool settles through Google Pay. Hilton’s chief information officer said consumers are already handing agents their card details, and Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel told Skift Global Forum that trust around payment details decides who gets the booking.
That matters most where loyalty economics run on card spend. Delta collected $8.2 billion from American Express in 2025, about 14% of adjusted operating revenue. Every agent checkout that defaults to its own wallet has a say in which card funds the trip. How payments and loyalty create new revenue, and who captures it when agents complete the transaction, is on the agenda at Change Commerce Summit.
Loyalty Against Algorithmic Price Transparency
Hilton expects agents to reshop bookings until departure, and travelers already do: half of 1,000 U.S. travelers in a McKinsey and Skift Research study changed a confirmed stay after spotting a better option.
Price-led loyalty is losing that contest. Skift Research found 44% of U.S. travelers book outside their preferred program on price, and 55% would follow an AI tool to a better deal. Loyalty membership ranked last as a reason to trust an AI recommendation. Non-travel companies outbid on rewards too: the same Expedia hotel inventory returns 1% to a free OneKey member and 10% in credits to an Uber One member.
A points discount is a price, and agents compare prices. Skift Research recommends on-property recognition, the part of loyalty an algorithm cannot list. Skift’s Seth Borko opens the day with the research behind these numbers.
Airlines Are Rebuilding the Shelf
Agents need offers they can change and cancel, not just fares. Delta plans to launch NDC content by year-end, later than American and United, which shows how unevenly airlines are moving. Change Commerce Summit has a session on what has to work for an agent to shop, book, and service a ticket.
Where These Calls Get Made
Most of these positions will harden before 2027 budgets lock. We built Skift Commerce Summit for the executives making those calls, on November 11 at Apella by Alexandria in New York City.
Source: skift.com
