PhocusWire

Agoda recently announced a batch of new features aimed at giving travelers more confidence when planning and managing their trips. The updates include real-time flight tracking, a redesigned #hotel browsing experience, and #artificialintelligence (#AI) tools built to help users pick the right property faster. #Agoda’s multi-product #booking engine now lets travelers book hotels, flights and activities in a single transaction, with everything consolidated under the “My Trips” section of the #app and website. And it has also expanded language support for flight-related chat queries, adding Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Thai, Indonesian, and support for Hong Kong-based users—five additional languages in total. Learn more in #PhocusWire's recent article.

Both International Air Transport Association (IATA) and Amadeus agree that the industry's biggest obstacle is no longer proving that #digitalidentity #technology works; it's connecting the pieces across borders. “The technology is already there,” said Alessandro Minucci, who leads seamless #travel initiatives at #Amadeus. “We are in a maturity curve of overall biometric implementation and digital ID at the government level." According to Minucci, the #aviation industry has reached what he calls the “last mile” of digital identity maturity, as trusted, government-issued credentials are increasingly available alongside biometric verification. The remaining challenge is connecting these different systems across borders and travel stakeholders. 🤔 How close are we to truly seamless travel?

An Aer Lingus digital product manager entering her first #hackathon has won the 21-day RouteStack.ai Build Challenge with a conversational #hotel concierge designed for #airline employees who fly standby. Valentina Borovaya's product, #StandByStay, addresses a specific gap. Airline staff can fly standby at steep discounts but often don't know which flight they've cleared until they are at the gate, which makes booking a #hotel in advance nearly impossible. StandByStay searches every candidate destination in parallel, holds a top pick and a backup in each city and only starts checkout through #RouteStack once the traveler confirms the flight. Borovaya built the product with Claude Code. Second place went to #HotelZippo, built by #travel #technology entrepreneur Varun Jain. Third place went to #MatchRoute, built by Stijn Risseeuw, an computer science and engineering student at TU Delft. Learn more in #PhocusWire's latest article.

Thirteen percent. That is the share of airlines' online passenger revenue that flows through online travel agencies (OTAs), according to #Phocuswright estimates in the latest report U.S. Online Travel Agency Market Essentials 2026. Air's share of #OTA gross bookings has declined to 20%, driven by travelers migrating to #airline websites and apps and by airlines using tighter capacity and higher fares to reduce the incentive to shop elsewhere. Only 13% of what airlines earn online passes through an OTA at all. Airlines have kept the online air customer largely for themselves. Preview the full Phocuswright #travelresearch report on #PhocusWire now.

Visiting Media, an immersive content provider, and #hospitality content management company HotelPORT® have partnered to help hotels strengthen their digital content and improve commercial performance. “The #VisitingMedia and #HotelPORT partnership addresses this challenge by combining immersive storytelling with enterprise content governance, enabling hotels to maximize the return on their digital content investments while delivering a more accurate, engaging and conversion-ready experience for prospective guests,” the companies said. This approach is also aimed at helping hotels prepare for #artificialintelligence (#AI)-powered #travel discovery, which is reliant on accurate and consistent information. Read more in #PhocusWire's latest article by Abby Crotty. #traveltech #traveltechnews #travelindustry #hotel #travelbooking #search

The European Commission has fined Google €460 million for not complying with the Digital Markets Act (#DMA) by preferencing its own services in search. The DMA states that businesses must not favor their own services over those of third parties in rankings. The European regulator found #Google preferenced its own services across a number of verticals, including hotels and transport. In a separate decision, Google was fined a further €430 million for not letting #app developers that distribute their apps via Google Play freely inform customers of “often cheaper, offers, and to direct them to those offers to make purchases, for example on websites or alternative app stores.” Learn more on #PhocusWire now ⤵️

Outdoor activities booking platform checkyeti has acquired Alentour SAS, the company behind outdoor experiences marketplace Manawa, for an undisclosed amount. The companies said the acquisition marks a step toward consolidation in #Europe's outdoor experiences industry. On LinkedIn, Checkyeti CEO Jakob Keller said the deal will also help the outdoor experiences marketplaces better support local providers and invest in #technology. He added that #Checkyeti and #Manawa are “complementary” and “share the same long-term vision for outdoor and nature experiences in Europe.” Learn more on #PhocusWire now.

The future of travel is shifting from search-based planning to intent-based experiences. Travelers are increasingly starting with what they want to feel and experience, not necessarily where they want to go. In a conversation in the PhocusWire studio at #Phocuswright Europe 2026, Erez Bousso, founder and CEO of We Are Move, spoke to Phocuswright senior vice president of content Mitra Sorrells about intent-based travel commerce, the limits of traditional search, agentic booking infrastructure and why trust will still matter as AI changes how trips are bought. Watch the full discussion now on #PhocusWire. #TravelTech #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #TravelIndustry #DigitalTransformation #CustomerExperience #TravelCommerce #Innovation #AgenticAI #FutureOfTravel

For a company that started life in the #UK in 2012, loveholidays now has a presence in eight markets. It also has about 15% of the U.K. packaged travel market, up from 5% in 2019, according to head of strategy Isabella Cheng. In a #PhocusWire studio interview at Phocuswright Europe 2026, Cheng discussed the dynamics of the packaged #travel market. She shared that package penetration in core markets has grown from 61% in 2019 to 69%. “Within packages we see two types of players: dynamic package players like ourselves and more traditional, typically flight-based tour operators. Typically that means we’re using our #technology to aggregate the entire market.” Watch the full discussion with PhocusWire's Linda Fox ⤵️

As travel adjusts to account for the productivity impact of #artificialintelligence (#AI), industry teams are figuring out how to keep up. While Sabre executives discussed the company’s transformation at its Compass ‘26 event, additional speakers attempted to cut through the AI noise and explain “how we can all stay human in a world for machines,” as X. Eyee, CEO of Malo Santo, put it. Eyee and Isabel Macdonald, PhD, senior behavioral scientist for Irrational Labs, outlined how to gain buy-in and how #travel companies can manage expectations with evolving technology. The key takeaway? Humans will shape the industry’s AI future depending on how they present, regulate and interact with the #technology. Read more on #PhocusWire now.