Topic

Many Perspectives. Competing Priorities. One Industry in Transformation.
AI is transforming hospitality, but the opportunity looks different depending on where you sit. Global brands want scale and control. Owners want financial returns. Operators want productivity and execution. Independent and boutique hotels want sophisticated capabilities without enterprise-level complexity. Established technology companies are reinventing their platforms, while AI-native innovators are challenging traditional software categories and operating models.

Central question: How will AI reshape the way hotels are managed, operated, marketed, distributed and monetized, and who will control and capture the value?

This is an interactive industry discussion, not a sequence of product demonstrations. Industry leaders from different types of stakeholders each speak for five minutes, unplugged with no slides, followed by open discussion and debate to explore opportunities, conflicts and practical solutions.

Industry Experts

Kurien Jacob
Partner, Highgate Tech Ventures
Cara Whitehill
Venture Partner, Thayer Investment Partners

Who should join this table

Hotels, Hotel Technology, Loyalty Programs, Short-Term Rentals, Bedbanks, Resorts, Serviced Apartments

Topic

Who's Actually in Control?
Corporate travel in the U.S. is at a turning point — managed corporate travel faces a temporary contraction, nearly 80% of business travel spending now occurs online, and AI is emerging as a game-changer for planning, compliance and back-office functions. But the control question is unresolved: 63% of business travelers book within managed programs, one in four companies has recently tightened policy, yet nearly 20% of bookings still fall outside policy — mainly for convenience, lower prices or loyalty perks. As agentic AI enters the picture, the tension between traveler autonomy and corporate oversight is only going to sharpen. Who sets the rules in a world where the booking agent might not be human?

Industry Experts

Michael Berk
Director of Strategic Innovation and Partnerships, American Express Global Business Travel
Anna Sun
CEO & Co-Founder, Nowadays
Jane Gasparian Lee
Head of International Marketing and Global B2B Marketing, United Airlines
Dorian Stonie
Senior Director, Global Travel, Salesforce
Aurélie Krau
Founder, The Nomad Hours

Who should join this table

Corporate Travel, TMCs, Buyers, Airlines

Sponsored by:

Topic

Rethinking Travel Payments as a Strategic Distribution Lever
Payment strategy is no longer a back-office utility — it is a core commercial lever and distribution strategy. As the industry faces mounting market pressures, the true strategic opportunity lies in how travel companies manage the transaction layer, adapt to modern booking habits, and build resilient backend infrastructure.

Executive leaders from across the travel industry explore how modernizing payment structures can turn operational friction into commercial opportunity. We'll examine how Merchant of Record models, multi-supplier bundling and aligned payment rails can protect margins and reduce risk — and why getting the payment infrastructure right today is critical as agentic AI enters the booking flow.

Industry Experts

Susan Pursey
Head of Strategic Accounts, Americas, WEX Global Travel
Mitra Sorrells
Senior Vice President, Content, Phocuswright

Who should join this table

CFOs, Treasury and Finance Managers, Payments Managers, E-commerce Managers, Hotels, Airlines, Online Travel Agencies

Sponsored by:

Topic

Turning Complexity into Competitive Advantage
Against a backdrop of global uncertainty, shifting traveler expectations and rapid technological change, travel agencies face an increasingly complex operating environment. But these challenges also present opportunities. How can agencies embrace new technologies, simplify their operations, and adapt their business models to deliver better customer experiences and unlock growth? And what role will innovation and industry partnerships play in helping them compete and thrive?

Industry Experts

Fahim Khan
SVP of Product, Travelport
Marilyn Markham
VP Enterprise AI Strategy, American Express Global Business Travel
Justin Schuster
SVP Marketing, Spotnana
Matt Shutt
Senior Vice President & General Manager, Priceline Partner Solutions
Lorraine Sileo
Founder, Phocuswright Research and Senior Analyst, Phocuswright

Who should join this table

Travel Agencies, TMCs, OTAs, Tour Operators, Agency Technology Providers, CTOs, Digital Transformation Leads

Sponsored by:

Topic

From Experimentation to Execution
More than 60% of travel businesses are already experimenting with or scaling agentic AI, but moving from promising pilots to trusted, real-world applications is proving more complicated. As AI agents begin to search, recommend, transact and book on behalf of travelers, new questions are emerging around trust, control, accountability and the role of humans in the process. This roundtable explores where agentic AI is delivering meaningful results today, what is preventing broader adoption, and what travel companies need to rethink — from workflows and data to governance and human oversight — to put agents to work at scale.

Industry Experts

Tedd Evers
Global Partner Leader, Travel & Hospitality, Amazon Web Services
Greg Abbott
SVP, Travel, DataArt
Dan Christian
Founder & Host, Travel Trends Podcast
TBA

Who should join this table

OTAs, Product Leaders, CTOs, Ecommerce Managers

Sponsored by:

Topic

The Traveler You Think You Know
Travel demand held up in 2025, but the behavior underneath it shifted. Spending tightened as Americans weighed travel against competing financial priorities, with younger travelers — now the largest share of the market — more cost-conscious than ever. At the same time, novelty eclipses repetition for Gen Z and millennials, challenging brands to build programs that reward flexibility and exploration as much as frequency. The traveler is still booking — but the assumptions built into most conversion and loyalty strategies no longer hold. What does the industry actually know about who it's selling to right now?

Industry Experts

Betsy Vankula
Director of Global Travel Sales, Enterprise, StackAdapt
Joe D’Andrea
SVP, Digital Growth, Northstar Travel Group

Who should join this table

Business Development, Marketing, DMOs, Associations, Governments

Sponsored by:

Topic

Experiences' Unfinished Business
Experiences reached $271 billion in 2025, growing faster than the broader travel industry — projected to exceed $340 billion by 2029. The demand story is settled. The structural one isn't. Just 33% of gross bookings in the sector take place through online channels, compared to 64% for the global travel industry. That gap is the opportunity — and the problem. How does a fragmented, largely offline sector capture the growth it's already generating, and who actually builds the infrastructure to get it there?

Industry Experts

Christian Watts
Founder & CEO, Magpie
Bruce Rosard
Co-Founder & CCO, Arival

Who should join this table

Tours & Activities Tech Providers, Attractions, OTAs, DMOs, Hospitality

Topic

Who Controls Traveler Data When AI Books the Trip?
Hotels have spent two decades building loyalty programs, CRM stacks and direct-booking incentives on a single assumption: the guest relationship lives in the brand's database. That assumption is now being tested from the outside.

When an AI assistant holds the traveler's preferences, accessibility needs and payment credentials, the profile that powers personalization may never enter the hotel at all. Traveler-controlled profiles and verifiable credentials propose one answer. Large brands, OTAs and platform players are working on others. Meanwhile, spoofed agents and AI-driven fraud are raising the stakes on knowing who, or what, is on the other side of a booking. What does a hotel actually need to own to keep the guest relationship, and what is it willing to let a third party hold?

This roundtable examines how traveler data will move through an AI-driven ecosystem, what it means for personalization and loyalty and who stands to win or lose control of the customer relationship.

Industry Experts

Heather Dahl
CEO, Indicio
Bill Carroll
Senior Hotel and Lodging Analyst, Phocuswright
Mike Coletta
Senior Manager, Research and Innovation, Phocuswright
TBA

Who should join this table

Hotels, Hotel Technology, Loyalty Programs, CRM and Data Leaders, Identity and Payments Providers, OTAs

Topic

Trust, Choice and Control
AI is reshaping the travel customer journey at every stage. Discovery, shopping, booking, payment and loyalty no longer run through a brand's own channels in a straight line. AI assistants and agents are increasingly influencing how travelers discover options, make decisions and complete transactions.

Each player faces a different strategic opportunity. Hotels are exploring how to expose inventory and data to AI-driven experiences while maintaining direct guest relationships. Online travel agencies (OTAs) are considering how their role evolves as new forms of planning and booking emerge. Travel management companies (TMCs) are looking at how AI can enhance managed travel while supporting policy compliance and traveler care. Technology and payments providers are enabling the identity, authorization and security foundations required for trusted AI-enabled commerce.

Join us to explore how AI is reshaping the travel ecosystem, where the biggest opportunities and challenges lie, and what the industry needs to do today to prepare for tomorrow's customer journey.

Industry Experts

Simon Thompson
Head of Business Development, Visa
Oral Muir
VP Partnerships, Experiences & Distribution, Hilton
John Lyotier
CEO & Founder, TravelAI
Pete Comeau
Managing Director, Phocuswright

Who should join this table

Hotels, OTAs, TMCs, Payments Providers, Technology Providers, Ecommerce Managers

Sponsored by:

The Roundtables boast a small, specialized group of travel executives and decision makers. A sponsorship enables your company to gain a high degree of visibility and develop vital relationships with this highly targeted audience.

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

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