Expedia Group's Unpack research shows how cultural conversations can become both a mainstream travel behavior and a strategic opportunity.

Unpack combines Expedia Group's first-party data, global research, and social listening to turn early signals into a forward-looking view of 2027. Join Amanda Maltos, Vice President of Communications, and Brandon Ehrhardt, Vice President of Marketing, for a fast, practical read on what's coming next, including:

• Emerging traveler behaviors moving curiosity to demand
• What the durability of the "Set-Jetting" trend teaches us about spotting and acting on early signals
• Where shifting traveler priorities create pressure and opportunities to pivot
• How this research can meaningfully shape your marketing, product, partnerships, and traveler experience

Presenter:
Brandon Ehrhardt
VP of Marketing, Expedia Group
Amanda Maltos
VP of Partner Communications, Expedia Group

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Gant Travel's customer experience transformation didn't happen all at once. It began with voice, expanded to chat, and most recently added email to Talkdesk—creating a unified platform for customer engagement. In this fireside chat, Gant Travel COO Vic Pynn shares how a close partnership with Talkdesk and an open, flexible technology platform allowed Gant to build what made sense for its business, at its own pace. Hear how bringing conversations and customer context together has simplified operations, better supported a global workforce, and helped Gant prioritize travelers when it matters most. Vic will also look ahead to what's next as Gant and Talkdesk continue to evolve the partnership and explore new opportunities with AI and automation.

Presenter:
Michael Klein
Industry Marketing Director, Talkdesk
Victor Pynn
COO, Gant Travel

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In May 2026, a flight-shopping agent went live — not a demo, a real product. This session brings together the technology, distribution, and payments partners behind it for a candid look at what it takes to build agentic commerce in travel.

The panel unpacks the hard calls made along the way: how to handle open-ended traveler queries without letting costs spiral, where to draw the line between agentic flexibility and deterministic reliability, and how trust gets earned — by travelers, and by the systems working together behind the scenes.

Six months post-launch, panelists share what the data shows about how people are searching and buying through agents today, and where the biggest opportunities for improvement lie.

A grounded, lessons-learned conversation from teams shipping agentic commerce in production, not just announcing it.

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The travel industry has no shortage of survey data on AI. Surveys tell you what people say they do, which is rarely the same as what they do. So we watched instead.

Over a week, US travelers planned real trips with AI on their own devices while we recorded their screens and listened to them think out loud. Five activities covered the journey end to end: choosing a destination, researching hotels, building a multi-day itinerary, finding day tours, and the handoff to booking. We asked them to plan a trip.

One of the findings: AI pointed 71% of travelers direct to the operator, and 68% said they preferred booking direct anyway. Our 2025 research found the same, but that study only covered Google AI Mode. This year travelers used ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI Mode, and the result held.

We will walk through all eight findings, and for each one what to do first.

Presenter:
Brennen Bliss
CEO, Propellic

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Every booking triggers a chain of payments across acquirers, banks, and virtual card providers, and the cash that should be available to pay suppliers is often stuck somewhere in between. For OTAs, that gap means pre-funding, credit lines, and costly short-term financing. Adyen and Visa will unpack where working capital gets trapped between pay-in and payout, and what OTAs can do to solve for it.

Presenter:
Victor Gaarenstroom
Global Head of Travel & Mobility, Adyen
Simon Thompson
Global Business Development Director, B2B Travel, Visa

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Agentic commerce in travel has taken its first small steps: one flight, one hotel booking. The trips that matter most to travelers and suppliers, such as a two-week Argentina–Chile journey, a family safari or a private-jet weekend, are still sold through calls, emails, and days of back-and-forth.

Mindshare is building a marketplace where every supplier, Commodity (OTA) or Complex (Tour Operator/DMC), is represented by its own AI agent, trained on its product and negotiating within the rate structure it already uses. Travelers, starting with 1.5 billion cardholders across 160 reward programs, will describe the trip they want. Supplier agents then assemble and price the itinerary and hand it off for booking.

The Mindshare founders walk through a complete OTA and complex-travel booking, from first prompt to confirmed trip, and share:

• How a supplier agent is built, trained and handed over to the supplier
• Where agents can and should negotiate, and where they must not improvise
• What changes for hotels, tour operators, DMCs and advisors when demand arrives through agents
• The road from a curated launch to an open marketplace in 2027

What comes after search? We believe it is Discovery, Collective Intelligence and Negotiation.

Presenter:
Michael Culhane
CEO & Co-Founder, Mindshare

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Showcase your brand as a thought leader by sponsoring a breakout session. Engage directly with industry decision-makers and align your company with the conversations shaping travel's future.

Get in touch with our team by email or call us at +1 860 350-4084 x505 for more information on sponsorship opportunities for breakout sessions.

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