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PhocusWire's in-depth coverage of travel search, featuring news, analysis, interviews, research and more on Google, other search engines, strategies, executives and role in the market.

News / Online

Airbnb rolls out travel map and social connections to drive discovery

By Abby Crotty | September 30, 2026

Airbnb users can now connect with other users on the platform to see where they've stayed and share recommendations. Read More

News / Technology

Booking Holdings-backed Lola unveils membership model for AI travel and experiences assistant

By Abby Crotty | September 29, 2026

Kayak founders Steve Hafner and Paul English share new details on Lola, the new AI assistant they are building with paid memberships, booking capabilities and ad-free recommendations. Read More

From Our Partners / Technology

What new research reveals about how travelers use AI to plan trips

By Propellic | September 28, 2026

Propellic watched U.S. travelers plan trips with AI for a week and learned where travel brands should be competing. Preview the findings ahead of the full report. Read More

News / Technology

Expedia exec on making AI an ambassador in travel

By Abby Crotty | September 22, 2026

With AI agents becoming gatekeepers, travel brands need to influence them to act as ambassadors instead, according to Expedia's Daniel Shin Un Kang. Read More

News / Technology

Travel marketers look to improve AI visibility and prepare for agentic booking

By Mark Frary | September 16, 2026

Executives from Travelier, Skyscanner and Demand-Genius discussed agentic travel booking and the shift from SEO to GEO during a panel at Phocuswright's Travel Marketing AI Summit London. Read More

News / Technology

PhocusWire's travel tech news briefs: Klook, Omio, Amadeus and more...

By PhocusWire | September 11, 2026

Keep up with all the latest people, partner and product news from around the global travel industry. Read More

News / Distribution

Google removes vacation rentals unit from search results in the EEA

By Abby Crotty | September 8, 2026

The search giant said the move is part of its ongoing efforts to comply with the DMA. Read More

News / Technology

Travel brands continue to chase AI visibility as the landscape shifts

By Morgan Hines | September 4, 2026

Following reports that Reddit citations have fallen considerably in LLM results, travel companies are once again reconsidering visibility strategies. Read More

News / Technology

AI isn’t just for research anymore: What European travelers are actually doing with it

By Phocuswright Research | September 1, 2026

European travelers are using AI well beyond simple search, and data shows just how far it's spread across the trip journey. Read More

Opinion / Technology

AI search is changing the marketing playbook: How can travel survive?

By Mario Gavira | September 1, 2026

Travelier CMO Mario Gavira boils AI search down to three actionable principles for travel marketers. Read More

News / Technology

The challenge of keeping AI-generated travel review summaries accurate, objective and useful

By Abby Crotty | August 13, 2026

AI-generated review summaries promise simplicity in travel, but can they capture the full picture? Read More

News / Online

IHG working with Google agentic booking pilot, wider AI initiatives

By Linda Fox | August 11, 2026

IHG confirmed its participation in Google's agentic AI booking pilot during its H1 2026 earnings report. Read More

News / Online

Google Maps updates Ask Maps with hotel, event discovery

By Linda Fox | August 6, 2026

Hotel and event discovery is being rolled out in the U.S. on Google Maps' Ask Maps conversational interface. Read More

News / Finance

Booking Holdings: AI visibility is up, but referrals stay under 1% of room nights

By Abby Crotty | August 4, 2026

Traffic from LLMs accounts for less than 1% of Booking Holdings' room nights, CFO Ewout Steenbergen said during the company's second-quarter earnings call. Read More