2026 Program

Start your day with a refreshing run or walk alongside fellow attendees. Meet at South Palm Court, (Lobby Level, Outdoor) before setting off. Choose your pace - running or walking - and enjoy a scenic start to the morning.

Reserve your spot via the conference app.

Begin your day with a refreshing yoga session for all levels. A water station and hotel towels will be provided. Mats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Come ready to relax, breathe, and reset before the day begins.

Reserve your spot via the conference app.

Check in at the Phocuswright Reception, grab your materials, and dive into a buzzing showcase packed with innovators and exhibitors ready to connect.

Meet with attendees, innovators and exhibitors one-on-one! The showcase is open for business and abuzz with activity.

(Private event - by acceptance only.)

Innovation is the lifeblood of any industry. The Startup Program is a curated networking platform to connect startups with corporates and investors to foster real innovation.

Light breakfast will be available.

Details here!

(Private event - by acceptance only.)

Each year, Phocuswright brings together the industry’s best and brightest travel leaders aged 35 and under to be part of this elite group. This private program during The Phocuswright Conference is a launching pad for the next generation of travel luminaries to connect, debate and collaborate.

Light breakfast will be available.

Learn more and apply here!

Supported by: Flex Pay by Upgrade

A concise cruise industry session covering market insights, AI and expert perspectives, bringing together cruise leaders, innovators and technology partners.

This special session delivers actionable insights, strategic discussion and high-value networking - all within the broader Phocuswright Conference experience.

Details here! The Cruise Summit is included with your Phocuswright Conference registration at no additional cost.

Immerse yourself in an intimate, interactive environment to learn about hot topics impacting today's travel marketplace.

For individual breakout details, click here!

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.

Booking patterns are shifting, payment options are multiplying and AI agents are starting to transact. Across the booking chain, the way money moves between traveler, seller and supplier now shapes who carries the risk. It also shifts the focus from transactional ownership to trust, loyalty and ongoing connection with the traveler.

This roundtable brings together leaders from online travel agencies (OTAs), travel management companies (TMCs), bedbanks and wholesalers, along with the hotels, airlines and other suppliers they work with. The discussion covers who should manage the payment relationship with the traveler and what payment choices mean for sellers and suppliers in fraud, friction and operational complexity. It also examines how merchant of record models and multi-supplier bundles shift risk between partners. Finally, it looks at what payment infrastructure needs to be in place before AI agents can book and pay on a traveler’s behalf.

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?

Immerse yourself in an intimate, interactive environment to learn about hot topics impacting today's travel marketplace.

For individual breakout details, click here!

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.

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. All of them face the same test on property: whether AI can give frontline teams the real-time guest context to deliver a higher level of hospitality.

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

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

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?

The tours, activities and attractions sector is booming, with the one-day experiences market reaching $271 billion in 2025 and projected to exceed $340 billion by 2029. But while demand is surging, the industry’s digital transformation remains unfinished. Just 33% of gross bookings take place online, compared to 64% across the broader travel industry, and multiday tours lag even further behind.

At the same time, traditional boundaries between day tours, attractions, destination management companies (DMCs) and multiday operators are blurring, while social platforms and AI-powered search are reshaping how travelers discover and book experiences.

Join industry leaders for an interactive discussion on closing the digital distribution gap, navigating an increasingly interconnected ecosystem and capturing the opportunities emerging as the traveler journey evolves.

Immerse yourself in an intimate, interactive environment to learn about hot topics impacting today's travel marketplace.

For individual breakout details, click here!

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?

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.

Short-form video now shapes where travelers go before they open a search engine or OTA. This roundtable examines how creator content and in-app booking are shrinking the gap between inspiration and purchase. Experts will discuss what makes social content credible enough to book on, where the path still breaks down and whether social commerce creates new demand or reroutes existing bookings. The discussion also covers attribution, budget allocation and who owns the traveler relationship when discovery starts on a social platform.

Immerse yourself in an intimate, interactive environment to learn about hot topics impacting today's travel marketplace.

For individual breakout details, click here!

Purpose and Learning Goals:
AI is transforming every part of hospitality—from operations and revenue management to marketing, distribution, and guest engagement. But the biggest question facing the industry isn't where to use AI. It's where human judgment still creates the greatest competitive advantage.

As an NYU professor, Google Higher Education AI Fellow and author of The Power of Perseverance, Richie Karaburun works with the next generation of hospitality leaders while advising organizations on how AI is changing work. His conclusion is simple: the winners won't be companies that replace people with AI—they'll be the ones that pair people and AI to create better decisions, better service and better business outcomes.

Using the "centaur" model—human plus machine working together—this session explores how hospitality organizations can identify the work AI should own, the moments that must remain human, and how to redesign teams around the strengths of both.

Whether you operate hotels, build technology, support distribution or invest in the sector, you'll leave with a practical framework for applying AI without sacrificing the human experiences that define hospitality.

Learn More

(Space is Limited. Secure your spot by bookmarking this session in the app!)

This opening reception kicks off the evening and gets everyone networking and buzzing about the coming days' sessions and speakers.

Join travel industry professionals for a relaxed, after-hours networking event to discuss trends, share ideas, and spark new collaborations.

Start your day with a refreshing run or walk alongside fellow attendees. Meet at South Palm Court, (Lobby Level, Outdoor) before setting off. Choose your pace - running or walking - and enjoy a scenic start to the morning.

Reserve your spot via the conference app.

Begin your day with a refreshing yoga session for all levels. A water station and hotel towels will be provided. Mats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Come ready to relax, breathe, and reset before the day begins.

Reserve your spot via the conference app.

Check in at the Phocuswright Reception, grab your materials, and dive into a buzzing showcase packed with innovators and exhibitors ready to connect.
Then, meet with innovators and exhibitors one-on-one! The showcase is open for business and abuzz with activity.

Kicking off the conference, this opening session brings attendees together to highlight the key themes shaping travel and set the stage for the conversations ahead.

We’ll also recognize the recipients of the Philip C. Wolf Memorial Scholarship Award. Philip, Phocuswright’s founder, was an entrepreneur, travel advisor, consultant and mentor to many. His influence on the travel industry and the people within it was profound, and his guidance continues to resonate today.

This year’s two scholarship recipients reflect Philip’s passion for mentorship, embodying his values and demonstrating a commitment to tackling meaningful challenges facing the travel industry.

Steve Hafner co-founded KAYAK and led it for more than two decades, helping define the metasearch era. Now he has founded Lola within Booking Holdings, an AI assistant designed to recommend and book travel, dining and experiences for its members. Hafner will share what he is building, what he thinks comes after traditional search as conversation and AI agents reshape discovery and booking, where AI can create real advantage and how travel and hospitality companies should prepare for the next shift in digital distribution.

Hotel distribution is entering another period of upheaval as brands push direct, owners scrutinize channel economics and platforms expand their role in hotel discovery and booking. At the same time, AI is reshaping how travelers find and compare stays. This session examines where incremental demand is really coming from, how channel economics are changing and who will hold the strongest relationship with the guest as the path to booking fragments.

Your customers want authentic, locally-led travel. The question is who delivers it to them. Intrepid Travel CEO James Thornton shares how purpose and growth work together and why that could be the difference for your business. Learn how Intrepid’s locally-led trips, global DMC network and B Corp credibility give partners like REI and Air Canada Vacations authentic, immersive experiences that travelers want, new ancillary revenue and a values-driven brand to stand behind.

The battle for traveler loyalty is expanding beyond traditional travel brands. Airlines, financial institutions, membership organizations and other players are using data, rewards, personalization and AI to deepen relationships and influence where consumers search, book and spend. This session examines the changing traveler relationship and how companies are competing to earn loyalty, influence decisions and deliver value as expectations and discovery channels evolve.

Where would you put your money in travel today? This year, Street Talk gets a new twist as investors spanning public markets, venture capital and growth equity make the case for where they see the strongest opportunities across the sector. From AI and infrastructure to consumer platforms and emerging business models, our investment committee will weigh risk, defend its convictions and reveal what it believes the market is getting right — and wrong.

The Bridge Series convenes brings together executives from across the globe to examine how travel businesses are adapting to changing markets, technologies and traveler behavior. This year’s conversation crosses regions and segments to explore where pressures are intensifying, how products and distribution models are evolving and which strategies translate across borders — and which do not — as companies pivot and compete in an increasingly dynamic global marketplace.

AI assistants are reshaping how travelers search, book and manage flights, creating new challenges and opportunities for agencies. As the traveler journey evolves, so too will the unit economics of air and the ways agencies compete, differentiate and drive profitability. Drawing on eight years of working closely with the world's leading OTAs and TMCs, Wenrix co-founder and CPO Tor Leelo explores the strategic pivots and infrastructure changes agencies need to make across search, booking and servicing to compete in AI-driven channels, protect profitability and unlock new opportunities for growth.

(Limited Availability – Registration Required)

Connect, Collaborate, and Empower!

Are you a female founder, advisor, investor, or ally in the hospitality industry? Don't miss this exclusive opportunity to network over lunch, engage in intimate roundtable discussions, and participate in dynamic speed networking sessions.

Join the Phocuswright research team and connect with some of our analysts in person to learn more about the research we do and how it can help to inform decisions and steer your strategy.

Innovation is the ultimate level-up - and not just for startups. Scaleups and established players are also breaking new ground and pushing the limits of travel technology. Launch puts them all in the arena, where each demonstrator has just minutes to wow the audience and prove they’ve got what it takes. With the Travel Innovation and People’s Choice Awards on the line, the stakes are high, the clock is ticking and the pressure is on to make an impact.

Fareportal Travel OS turns Fareportal’s proven B2C travel stack into a configurable OS for brands to launch, operate and scale travel.

Postra is a modular API that automates post-booking workflows — refunds, rescheduling and ancillary — across GDS, NDC and LCC.

Personalized trip planning for airlines, hotels, airports, DMCs and other travel partners.

See how Pintours' AI layer turns any venue, tour, or event into a personalized, AR- and expert-guided experience (transport, dining, personalization).

Voyani manages the rest of the trip for your customer, and turns it into revenue and cost savings for travel partners.

AI assistants are the next big channel. Your members are already there. Is your loyalty program? See how to get it in.

Travel Mode: helping international visitors experience more of Korea through local apps, services and benefits.

AI sped up writing code, not understanding it. Interlace maps your system, so teams ship 35% faster on top of AI gains.

AI that sees both sides of B2B hotel distribution, so travel sellers sell smarter and suppliers win more

Meet aime: 14 AI agents that run corporate meetings, events and guest travel end to end, from request to payment.

See a custom trip go from one sentence to a bookable itinerary on a map, in seconds. Built for tour operators and DMCs.

The future of travel isn't just booked. It's measured. Meet Swivul's AI concierge and travel ROI engine.

Following the Launch competition, longtime entrepreneur and investor Steve Singh reacts to the business models and themes emerging from this year’s presenters. Drawing on decades of experience building, scaling and backing technology companies, he shares his perspective on where innovation is creating real opportunity, how AI and new technology platforms are reshaping travel and what it will take for the next generation of companies to break through.

For many travelers, the trip starts with a ticket, not a destination. A favorite artist, a championship game or a festival becomes the reason to go, with hotels and the rest of the journey following. Drawing on his experience building Crewfare, founder and CEO Jason van Esso explores how fandom creates travel demand and how hotels, event organizers and travel platforms can better serve it.

AI is becoming a more familiar part of trip planning, but travelers are not relying on technology alone. Drawing on new U.S. consumer research and Phocuswright’s latest survey of travel advisors, this session examines how travelers are using AI alongside human advice, where each plays a role in planning and booking and how travel advisors themselves are incorporating AI into their work.

AI and automation are taking on more of the travel-planning, booking and servicing process, but that does not make human expertise less relevant. It changes where that expertise matters most. This session examines which parts of the traveler experience benefit from judgment, relationships and advocacy, how technology can make those capabilities more scalable and what the most effective hybrid models may look like as travel advice is redefined.

Some of travel’s highest-value products remain among the hardest to navigate. Technology, data and personalization are changing that equation, helping turn complexity into more relevant, intuitive buying experiences. But AI is raising the stakes. As it evolves from helping consumers search and compare to recommending and purchasing on their behalf, what determines which products get considered and which get left behind? Jeff Wright of Allianz Partners and Bart Welch of Boundless Labs (Cruisebound) explore how travel brands can remove friction today while preparing for a future where the next customer decision may increasingly be shaped by AI.

Travel demand is being shaped in new ways, from social content and AI-powered discovery to search behavior, pricing and real-time signals of traveler intent. But generating interest is only part of the challenge. As travelers concentrate around the same places and experiences, destinations and operators increasingly need to think about how demand can be redirected as well as created. Erik Blachford opens with a data-driven provocation, then joins industry leaders to examine who influences where travelers go, how inspiration turns into actual travel and how destinations can use technology and smarter marketing to shape that demand more strategically.

As more businesses look to travel as a way to create value for their customers and drive growth, B2B is becoming an increasingly important strategic battleground. With Booking Holdings bringing its B2B capabilities across Booking.com, Agoda and Priceline closer together under Omri Morgenshtern, this conversation examines the strategy behind the move, how its scale, technology, and expertise are being combined in new ways and what it reveals about how Booking sees the future of B2B travel.

Find out the winner of the Travel Innovation and People's Choice Awards!

Join us for drinks and enjoy networking with your fellow attendees, speakers, and the Phocuswright team!

Join travel industry professionals for a relaxed, after-hours networking event to discuss trends, share ideas, and spark new collaborations.

Start your day with a refreshing run or walk alongside fellow attendees. Meet at South Palm Court, (Lobby Level, Outdoor) before setting off. Choose your pace - running or walking - and enjoy a scenic start to the morning.

Reserve your spot via the conference app.

Begin your day with a refreshing yoga session for all levels. A water station and hotel towels will be provided. Mats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Come ready to relax, breathe, and reset before the day begins.

Reserve your spot via the conference app.

The tools are everywhere. The transformation isn’t. Access to AI has surged, budgets are increasing and confidence is high, yet most workers who have the tools barely use them and most companies are bolting AI onto old workflows instead of redesigning around it. The gap between what leaders say about AI and what’s happening on the ground has never been wider.

This working roundtable closes that gap through candid small-group conversation instead of another panel of success stories. Including fresh data from Phocuswright’s “Rebuilt or Bolted On: Travel's Agentic AI Divide” research and cross-industry benchmarks, this session will be run under Chatham House rules so leaders and participants can speak plainly. Each table takes on one dimension of the AI leadership challenge led by a mentor who provokes rather than presents.

The session opens with a leadership reality check that frames three tensions every leader is navigating including: confidence vs. candor, speed vs. trust, adoption vs. transformation , and puts one question to the room: what does AI require me to do differently as a leader? The room then reconvenes to surface where we disagree and what we’re doing differently come Monday.

Key areas of discussion:

Culture & the Say-Do Gap
ROI & Measurement
Governance & Accountability
Leading Human-AI Teams
Customer Experience & Trust
Talent & the Pipeline

This session is built for the executives, founders, operators and curious people ready for a real conversation about leading through the transformation.

Speakers:
Rachel Alday, Co-Chief Executive Officer, Adobe Luxury Rentals
Brennen Bliss, CEO, Propellic
Daniel Conti, Sr. Director of Distribution Strategy, Americas, Hilton
Thia Gnanakumaran, VP, Information Technology, Ensemble Travel Group
Adam Harris, Co-Founder & CEO, Cloudbeds
Whitnee Hawthorne, Global Head of Travel and Hospitality, Snowflake
Chris Hodges, Vice President, Global Connectivity & Partner Solutions, Expedia Group
James Lever, Principal Director, CxO Advisory (Travel, Data & AI), DataArt Solutions, Inc.
Angelo Lombardi, Vice President Digital Transformation, A&H, Crum & Forster Insurance
Marilyn Markham, VP Enterprise AI Strategy, American Express Global Business Travel
Traci Mercer, Chief Commercial Officer, Priceline
Rob Torres, Board Chair, Travel Technology Investor
Cara Whitehill, Founder, Unlock Advisors

Moderators
Melissa Maher, Founder and CEO, Pinnacle Enterprises Group
Kimberly Newbury, Vice President, Sales, Phocuswright

We’re seeking experienced executives, founders, and industry innovators to serve as leaders and facilitators at small group tables. Click here to apply!

Check in at the Phocuswright Reception, grab your materials, and dive into a buzzing showcase packed with innovators and exhibitors ready to connect.
Then, meet with innovators and exhibitors one-on-one! The showcase is open for business and abuzz with activity.

AI agents are starting to search, compare and book on travelers' behalf. That puts pressure on every player that has spent years building a direct relationship with the customer. Airlines want their content visible and their loyalty programs relevant. TMCs are already being bypassed by corporate booking and expense tools. Tech providers are racing to decide which side they're on. Leaders from an airline, the managed travel world and the technology side will each stake out their role in an agent-driven market, then debate what loyalty, personalization and payments look like when the "customer" might be software. Bring your questions: this is an interactive roundtable.

Welcome back to Day 3! Let’s kick things off by celebrating the newest Hall of Fame inductees and their impact on the travel industry.

Some of travel’s fastest-growing sellers may not look like travel companies at all. Banks, loyalty programs, retailers and other brands are increasingly embedding travel into their own customer relationships, creating new opportunities and new competition across distribution. As Expedia Group expands the technology and supply behind those partnerships, Alfonso Paredes examines what these new sellers need, where embedded travel is gaining traction and how this shift could reshape who owns the traveler relationship.

Travel demand remains strong, but the forces shaping it are becoming harder to predict. International visitation, consumer confidence, government policy, operating costs and geopolitical uncertainty are all influencing where and how people travel. U.S. Travel Association CEO Geoff Freeman sits down with Carnival Corporation CEO Josh Weinstein for a candid discussion about the pressures facing travel businesses, the competitiveness of the U.S. market and what industry and policymakers need to get right in the years ahead.

Hear from zerolook.ai, one of PhocusWire’s Hot 25 Travel Startups for 2027.

Travel companies have moved well beyond asking whether they should use AI. The questions now are where it creates an advantage and what results to expect. Drawing on Phocuswright’s latest industry survey, this session works through the math behind AI advantage, examining what separates the leaders and what obstacles remain on the path to agentic commerce. It also looks at how startups are approaching AI and what the latest travel funding data reveals.

Travel companies know their technology stacks need to evolve, but transformation rarely happens on a blank slate. Legacy systems still power critical operations while new platforms, modular architectures and AI capabilities are layered in around them. This session examines the choices behind modernization: what to replace versus integrate, how to prepare teams for new ways of working, where AI is ready for core operations and how to build a more flexible technology foundation without disrupting the business.

Travel planning has never offered consumers more choices—or more uncertainty. Jenn Lee challenges the industry to rethink the consumer experience through co-creation, technology and human connection. Discover why the future belongs to travel advisors who meet consumers earlier, replace anxiety with confidence and restore meaningful connections within local communities.

AI, new interfaces and changing distribution models are reshaping who controls demand, customer relationships and competitive advantage in travel. Drawing on more than two decades as a founder and industry leader, Fred Lalonde offers a candid perspective on where the next shifts are coming from, which assumptions established companies need to rethink and where newer players still have room to disrupt the market.

"Travel is booming, but broken." Travel is heading toward a $15T opportunity, yet held back by fragmented apps, static forms, and legacy tech that breaks on real traveler complexity.

Meta’s Sanjay Bhatia will unpack how AI-enabled conversations on WhatsApp are fixing travel's fragmented booking journey by creating seamless, trusted, revenue-driving moments.

As AI agents move from inspiration and planning into booking and servicing, the infrastructure behind the transaction becomes increasingly important. This session examines what agents need to shop and sell travel reliably, how traditional marketplaces, newer API models and shared industry infrastructure may evolve and where power shifts when the consumer interface, transaction layer and supplier relationship are increasingly separated.

Search is moving beyond answers and recommendations toward action. As conversational planning, personalization and transactions converge, the lines between search engine, travel planner and booking channels are beginning to blur. James Byers shares the latest on how travelers are using Google’s AI-powered travel tools, then joins us to examine what this shift means for visibility, distribution and the battle to influence the traveler from inspiration through booking.