Your edge on Big Tech's travel play

As Big Tech's travel ambitions collide with the industry's own bets, travel companies are facing disruption both externally and internally.  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏  ͏ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­ ­  

Subscribe to Skift Pro today and get 25% off Hi there,   Most of what I report doesn't come from a company announcement. My stories come from separate conversations, interviews and deep dives — when executives and experts get real about what a development actually means, or a source flags what's being built before it goes public.  As Big Tech's travel ambitions collide with the industry's own bets, travel companies are facing disruption both externally and internally. My job is to figure out how that is reshaping business.  Google, Amazon, and Meta have all set their AI sights on bringing new travel capabilities to hundreds of billions of global users across computers, phones, smart glasses and Echo smart displays. Frontier AI models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Claude are courting travel developers and brands with new development tools to expand their reach or embed AI deeper into their operations. Travel giants are responding at breakneck speed, with OTAs like Expedia and Booking.com, and hotels like Marriott showing up in every AI surface they can.  The stakes are real: who controls the customer relationship and who gets reduced to fulfillment infrastructure.  Skift demands a dedicated AI and travel tech beat because this shift requires sustained attention, access to decision-makers and builders, and a focused eye on what the demos and docs are really saying. I came to this role with years of tech reporting behind me, but the work is ongoing: tracking what companies actually deploy versus what they promise, translating protocols and specs into industry stakes, and getting sources to go beyond the AI noise and talk about what the moves actually mean.  That's what your Skift Pro subscription makes possible — the attention, time, and access to the spaces where things happen, so the travel industry can stay on top of what's really going on and what happens next.  Thanks for reading.  — Adriana   The companies reshaping travel aren't waiting and neither should you. Skift Pro gives you the reporting that goes beyond the press release: the conversations, the sourcing, and the sustained attention that turns AI noise into real industry intelligence. Subscribe today and get 25% off before the discount expires.   Skift, 35 W 31st St., Frnt 1, New York, NY 10001, USA Manage preferences