Weighing build versus buy in travel's AI era

Rapid evolution in artificial intelligence (AI) over the past year has pushed travel companies to consider whether building or buying technology and skills is the right strategy.

A panel of executives from Amadeus, Etraveli and Hopper Technology Solutions (HTS) at Phocuswright Europe 2026 discussed their approaches and rationale for recent acquisitions.

Amadeus recently acquired conversational booking specialist SkyLink to help scale AI efforts. Elena Avila, executive vice president of travel distribution at Amadeus, said it typically builds technology in-house, investing €1.4 billion in research and development in 2025.

But she said strategic partnerships were on the cards as well as potential acquisitions of companies such as Skylink with “unique capabilities that are distinctive.”

Avila added that the startup has proven capabilities in the corporate travel world.

“That matters because in AI there's a big difference between big opportunity and big promises versus what’s actually deploying.”

Meanwhile, Etraveli recently acquired Wenrix, a B2B solution for predictive and agentic AI solutions for flights.

According to Mathias Hedlund, CEO of Etraveli, “You want to buy someone that can do something better than you do yourselves. We wanted to become more of a B2B company, and here we get the whole industry as customers. That's very important. They also deal with the toughest challenges, they really want to automate the most difficult things.”

Jo Lai, senior vice president of AI solutions and customer experience at HTS, said the company had built its AI internally because of the complexity of travel.

“The reality is that to have an AI platform that works at scale within regulations in the ugliest corners of travel is fundamentally a different sport. And if you are to build, you need to have a modern technology stack, the talent density, and it needs to be a fundamental part of your moat, which I think is why we at HTS actually build it.”

However, for companies without the tech stack and the talent, Lai’s advice was to buy the technology and skills.

Beyond the build-versus-buy debate, the panel also discussed European regulations and brand value an AI world.

Watch the full session below, with Phocuswright’s Pete Comeau and WiT’s Yeoh Siew Hoon.