Travel companies race to become AI-native

Industry leaders say the real shift is integrating AI across the entire travel lifecycle, not simply adding new AI tools

At ITB Berlin, travel technology executives discussed how artificial intelligence is reshaping the industry’s foundations. The conversation highlighted a shift toward becoming “AI-native,” meaning companies design their systems, products and processes around AI rather than treating it as an optional add-on. Leaders from Sabre, Booking.com, Google and Skyscanner emphasized that AI will increasingly influence everything from pricing and search to retailing and customer service. While the industry is already experimenting with new AI capabilities, the broader transformation will depend on infrastructure readiness, consumer trust and the complexity of travel transactions.

Key takeaways

• Becoming AI-native: Travel companies are beginning to embed AI across the entire product lifecycle—from pricing and search to booking, payments and customer service—rather than deploying it as a standalone feature.
• Sabre’s platform transformation: Sabre announced the completion of a multiyear overhaul of its core systems into a unified, cloud-native platform designed to support generative AI and emerging agent-driven travel commerce.
• Industry adoption accelerating: Research presented during the session indicated that about 73% of travel companies already use AI internally, while roughly half have integrated it into customer-facing communication and services.
• Growing consumer engagement with AI: Nearly half of travellers in the United States now use AI tools during travel planning, with adoption particularly strong among younger travellers.
• Trust as a critical factor: Despite strong interest in generative AI, only a small share of travellers currently feel comfortable allowing AI systems to make travel decisions or bookings on their behalf.
• Travel’s complexity slows automation: Executives noted that travel purchases involve higher costs, emotional considerations and multiple suppliers, making full automation more challenging than in retail sectors.
• Infrastructure and integration challenges: Travel companies often operate with limited budgets and complex legacy systems, which can slow the integration of new AI standards and protocols.
• Holistic AI strategy emerging: Industry leaders increasingly view AI not as a single capability but as a foundational layer that will influence product development, distribution, pricing and the broader travel ecosystem.

Source: ITB Berlin

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