For the fourth installment of PhocusWire’s flashback series, we looked at 2024.
After it defined much of 2023, with the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, there is no question that the travel industry was enamored with artificial intelligence (AI).
In fact, while it conceded it was “a bit tricky” to decide, when asked what single topic PhocusWire covered the most in 2024, ChatGPT identified AI in travel, “particularly AI-powered itinerary tools and discovery platforms.”
At the beginning of the year, industry stakeholders and Phocuswright analysts shared predictions for 2024, many of which focused on sustainability, corporate travel resurgence, sector consolidation, experiential travel demand and generative AI. And they were spot on in predicting that AI would be a main character.
AI progress and hype
Travel companies continued to implement AI and explore its potential in marketing, distribution, operations, search, planning and in-destination experiences.
PhocusWire covered how AI impacted different segments, including broader pieces on revenue management and property management, as well as through individual news stories and check-ins with companies such as HomeToGo and MakeMyTrip.
Google, Booking Holdings and Expedia Group made headlines discussing how AI fits into the companies’ assorted futures. Google said generative AI was at the heart of its search strategy, while Booking Holdings said AI would play into its connected trip vision and Expedia Group launched an AI assistant.
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Meanwhile, startups such as MindTrip, a PhocusWire Hot 25 Travel Startup for 2025, were newsmakers throughout the year, too, with funding and product launch news tied to AI-driven capabilities.
Other AI news related to consolidation, like Layla’s acquisition of Roam Around, and many companies' introduction and updating of AI agents. HomeToGo, for example, also made headlines when announcing its assistant, “Super AI Sunny.”
Still, industry leaders also suggested that much of the chatter around the AI was hype.
In late 2023, Brian Chesky, co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, openly expressed how his company could evolve with generative AI. But the following September, he predicted change would take more time.
“I don't like to make promises, and not deliver on them … but, well, I'm not going to deliver on the promise of AI, and no one will,” Chesky said. “I think AI is going to change the world much more than anybody realizes. I also think it's going to take way longer than anyone realizes. This decade, things aren't going to change as much as people think, and next decade, things are going to change a lot more.”
At the time, Mike Coletta, senior manager of research and innovation at Phocuswright, said there was a dichotomy around AI making it challenging to fully understand the technology’s evolution.
“On the one hand, it’s by far the fastest-evolving technology in history,” Coletta said in October 2024. “On the other hand, humans at large evolve at a set pace, both in our understanding of technology and our behaviors with it. So, it’s easy to believe that change will be rapid, but AI can only move as fast as humans are able to move with it.”
Travel M&A, funding
Travel mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity continued to heat up in 2024 as well.
“For the M&A side, we're definitely on top,” Matt Zito, managing partner of TSI, a broker for travel M&A and consultancy for startups, told PhocusWire in a studio interview that November. “There's a lot of activity coming from both buyers and sellers.”
Zito attributed the amplified environment to buyers realizing a recession wasn’t likely, which freed up balance sheets and improved earnings with the COVID-19 pandemic in the rearview mirror.
Min Liu, managing director at investment banking firm Cambon Partners, weighed in on the sell side, adding that consolidation was trending in 2024, mostly due to the fact that older generations were ready to exit.
Eye-grabbing deals included American Express GBT’s plan to acquire CWT for a whopping $570 million, which drew scrutiny from authorities in the U.K.
TravelPerk’s acquisition of AmTrav made waves, too, and the industry took note of Gray Dawes Travel Group’s purchase of Verve Travel and VCK Travel, following more than a dozen acquisitions in years prior.
Mews also acquired FrontDesk Anywhere, HS3 Hotelsoftware, Quotelo and Atomize, while raising significant funding. The company secured $110 million in March 2024 and another $100 million in September.
Additionally on the funding side, Hostaway raised a whopping $365 million, bringing the company’s valuation last year to $925 million. Lighthouse nabbed $370 million in its series C raise, and FLYR raised $295 million.
Big names, big headlines
It was a significant year for travel incumbents, with major players routinely making newsworthy moves:
- Airbnb: Airbnb continued to make waves in the industry with its pushback on short-term rental regulations, the launch of its Icons program, its ongoing discussion of moving past home rentals and its quiet reopening of Experiences.
- Booking.com: All eyes were on Booking.com in May, when it was designated a gatekeeper under Digital Markets Act in Europe. In November, the company said it enacted changes to address the ruling, including the elimination of parity requirements for European Economic Area partners, introducing a tool to give travelers better control and access to their data and improving partners’ data access.
- Expedia Group: Expedia Group had a busy 2024, with CEO Peter Kern stepping down and being replaced by Ariane Gorin, the launch of its media network for advertisers, the launch of Romie and Travel Shops, the ousting of CTO Rathi Murthy and the hiring of Ramana Thumu later in the year.
Additional notable newsmakers included the antitrust ruling deeming Google a monopoly, the Crowdstrike outage and increased interest in airline distribution, with a focus on the rise of New Distribution Capability.
Want to read more Travel Tech Flashbacks? PhocusWire has also revisited 2018, 2020 and 2022.