AI and the Travel Customer Journey: 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.

Welcome to Center Stage

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.

The Bridge Series: Travel Tech Trends Around the World

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.

Executive Interview: Building the Next Generation of Travel

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.

Welcome Back & Hall of Fame Recognition

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.

Executive Interview: Powering the New Travel Seller

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.

'Till Next Year