Here's our roundup of the people, product and partner news from the global travel industry this week.
This roundup was created with the assistance of Claude.
AI Hospitality Alliance unveils advisory board
The AI Hospitality Alliance (AIHA) has formed its inaugural advisory board to guide responsible artificial intelligence (AI) adoption across the hospitality industry. The board addresses fragmented tools, undefined standards and absent governance frameworks as AI reshapes how guests discover, book and experience travel.
Hotel group executives on the board include Brian Kirkland of Choice Hotels International, Michael Mahar of Wyndham Hotels, Keryn McNamara of Aimbridge Hospitality, Bill Ryan of BWH Hotels, Gustaaf Schrils of Omni Hotels & Resorts. Tyrone Millard, go-to-market (GTM) for travel and hospitality at OpenAI has also joined the line-up.
Navan launches Navan Anywhere
Navan has launched Navan Anywhere, an initiative to embed its AI travel agents directly into third-party platforms.
The first integration is live on Google Cloud Marketplace and is embedded in Gemini Enterprise, letting users plan, book and manage travel without leaving their existing tools. Using a headless architecture, Navan Anywhere surfaces the company's inventory, policy controls and expense automation inside everyday workflows. Additional corporate platform integrations are planned for later this year.
Travelport launches TripServices
Travelport has formally launched TripServices. The cloud-native application program interface (API) platform is designed to normalize and curate travel content across air, hotel and ancillary services from a single connection.
The platform uses machine learning to rank content dynamically and handle complex booking workflows, reducing manual engineering work. It also serves as the foundation for Travelport's previously announced collaboration with Cognizant and Anthropic. The launch is backed by a $50 million strategic investment, with major agency and travel management company deployments expected later in 2026.
Reservations.ai, HotelPlanner
Reservations.ai has opened early beta access to a conversational AI platform that lets travelers book flights, hotels and transportation through a single voice or text interface.
Built on HotelPlanner's reservation infrastructure, the platform aims to eliminate the fragmented process of moving between search engines and booking tools. HotelPlanner's AI agents handle more than 250,000 customer interactions per day and the broader business is on pace to generate nearly £3 billion in gross booking value this year.
Quick on the Net Limited, HBX Group
Quick on the Net Limited has expanded its 12-year partnership with the B2B2C division of HBX Group, continuing to support multilingual and multi-currency booking experiences across multiple markets.
Quick on the Net provides localization and content deployment through consumer platforms including HotelsMoneySaver.com and HolidaysMoneySaver.com, helping translate HBX Group's technology into regional traveler experiences.
Daytrip launches hourly driver service
Daytrip has launched an hourly driver service that allows travelers to book a private vehicle and English-speaking driver by the hour for up to eight hours.
Available through Daytrip’s website, mobile app and travel agent portal, the service is designed for business travelers, vacationers and travel advisors managing multi-stop itineraries. The launch expands Daytrip’s portfolio beyond airport transfers, day trips and city-to-city transfers.
Separately, Daytrip announces a partnership with travel agency consortium Ensemble. Daytrip joins the family of elite travel professionals supporting them to create travel experiences for clients.
Lighthouse’s AI assistant for hotel team
Lighthouse has launched Ernest, an AI assistant designed to help hotel commercial teams analyze performance data, make recommendations and automate tasks across hospitality systems.
The tool connects with property management, reservations and distribution platforms to provide operational insights and support decision-making through a conversational interface. Lighthouse said Ernest can also automate workflows through integrations with more than 500 hospitality systems and is currently available in beta to select customers.
HostProfit introduces AI visibility tracking tool
HostProfit.ai has launched a tool designed to help short-term rental operators measure how often their Airbnb listings appear in responses from AI search platforms including ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude.
The platform tests traveler search queries against multiple AI engines and identifies which listings are recommended, which competitors appear instead and the potential revenue impact of visibility gaps. Following the Airbnb-focused product, support for Vrbo, Booking.com and direct-booking websites is planned for a future release.
Simple Booking adds AI agent integration
Simple Booking has made its model context protocol (MCP) connector suite generally available, enabling its hotel distribution platform to connect with AI agents including ChatGPT and Claude.
The connector suite provides access to tools covering booking engine data, rate plans, availability, pricing, tourism demand analysis and rate parity monitoring. Simple Booking said the release is intended to allow hotels and hotel groups to use AI agents to access and act on operational and distribution data through natural language queries.
Conduit expands into AI operations
Conduit has expanded its guest messaging platform into an AI operations layer with preconfigured agents for guest support, sales, cleaning and owner communications.
The platform connects with property management systems, customer relationship management (CRM) platforms, channel managers, pricing tools and other hospitality software to automate operational workflows. Conduit said the agents can perform tasks such as reservation changes, refund processing, cleaning coordination and contractor dispatch while operating within business rules and approval settings.
Finest Retreats' AI guest support tool
Finest Retreats has introduced GuestAid, an AI-powered assistant designed to help vacation rental guests troubleshoot property and appliance issues without contacting support teams.
GuestAid is trained on property-specific information across the company’s portfolio, including appliance manuals and heating systems, and can identify equipment from photos to provide tailored guidance. Finest Retreats said the tool handled more than 340 guest queries during a three-month soft launch period and escalates unresolved issues to staff or tradespeople when needed.
Accelya, AWS, Vista collaborate on airline AI
Accelya is working with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Vista Equity Partners to apply AI across airline commercial, operational and financial workflows.
The companies said the effort is focused on bringing AI into live airline systems for functions such as offer creation, order management, servicing and settlement. Accelya said the collaboration is intended to help airlines move beyond pilot projects and apply AI within operational environments that require governance, interoperability and reliability.
Atlas’ AJet NDC integration, WINGIE partnership
Atlas has become the first distribution partner to integrate with AJet’s NDC 24.1 standard, providing travel sellers with access to the airline’s fares, ancillary products and post-booking servicing capabilities through the Atlas API. Atlas said the addition expands its coverage to more than 75% of routes across Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Separately, WINGIE Enuygun Group has adopted the Atlas Flight API, gaining access to content from more than 140 low-cost carriers, including 80 direct airline API integrations. The companies said they are also exploring additional airline and regional expansion opportunities.