Lola launches AI-powered experiences, memberships, and new partners
Backed by Booking Holdings, Lola combines personalized recommendations with preferred rates and premium benefits across travel, dining, events, and more.
Lola, the new AI assistant for experiences backed by Booking Holdings (NASDAQ: BKNG), debuts with a new membership offering that combines persona [...]
Hotels reply fast, resolve slow. Polar travel surge. UK likes refund-protected bookings. AI transforms tourism. More.
Hotels are fast to reply but slow to resolve
A new analysis of reservation workflows by Lobby, an AI platform that automates booking operations for travel and hospitality suppliers, challenges the industry's focus on response times and conversion rates. Lobby found that hotels often answer quickly [...]
Kazakhstan’s super app has cornered a $538 billion KZT travel market
Central Asia's online travel scene is booming, but the winners aren't who you'd expect
Central Asia's digital economy is moving fast. E-commerce volume hit $14.7 billion USD in 2024 (up 32% year over year), and AI adoption is climbing, with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan all ranking in the [...]
CarTrawler, Tiqets integrated: Expedia’s Alfonso Paredes on keeping focus in B2B long game
It may be a couple of months since the World Cup final, but Alfonso Paredes, Expedia Group’s President, B2B & Chief Commercial Officer, is still euphoric about his home country’s win.
Speaking to me from his Madrid office, he said, “Spain won not because they had the best individual playe [...]
Qantas Loyalty partners with Expedia Group, focusing on its Hotels & Holidays booking experience
Qantas Loyalty has announced a strategic technology partnership with Expedia Group, tackling the digital booking experience and technology capabilities across the Qantas Hotels & Holidays and Jetstar Holidays platforms.
Under the agreement, Expedia Group B2B will power Qantas’ end-to-end tr [...]
India travel market navigates disruptions, sustains growth momentum
Highlights:
Total market outlook: Indian travel market was valued at ₹5,972 billion ($67.6 billion) in FY26, up 7.6% y-o-y, after three consecutive years of double-digit
Engines of growth: Alternative accommodation emerged as the fastest-growing category in FY26, expanding by 30%, followed [...]
Food, identity & tourism: The story grown when no one is watching
A soil scientist by accident, a MasterChef alum turned custodian of culture, and a data analyst who’s read 1,300 diners’ minds walked into a Queenstown pre-lunch session – and ended up agreeing on the same verdict: New Zealand’s food story is still “emerging”.
That was the key takeawa [...]
Asia’s developers are granting Al more autonomy but retaining human accountability
Agoda releases Al Developer Report 2026
Digital travel platform Agoda has released a new study showing that software developers across Southeast Asia and India are rapidly transitioning from using Al assistants for individual tasks to deploying autonomous Al agents across the software-development l [...]
The leap of faith Instinct can’t book
I suppose it is fitting that I used Instinct to book tickets for the movie Odyssey. A robotic agent that can accomplish tasks in seconds, buying tickets to a three-hour film about one man’s arduous, perilous journey over the seas – fighting the wrath of Poseidon – to return to his family afte [...]
India travel rebound. Trip.Biz AI launch. Cloudbeds-Klook partnership. Japan tourism MOU. F1 hotel surge.
India's travel market cools in 2025, eyes fare-driven rebound
India's travel market grew just 1% to $41.7 billion in 2025 (down sharply from 10% growth in 2024), as air travel was hit by operational disruptions at IndiGo and Air India while car rental surged on road-trip demand.
Online booking [...]
