AI Agents Enter Travel Booking: What Will Change for Tourists and Travel Companies

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Marta Skylar
Aviation News Editor
28.07.2026 01:03

AI Agents Enter Travel Booking: What Will Change for Tourists and Travel Companies

A new Accenture study shows that artificial intelligence in travel is moving from the role of an advisor to that of an intermediary that can compare options, narrow down choices, and in some cases influence the booking itself. For tourists, this promises a faster search for flights, hotels, and tours, but also creates new risks: data errors, opaque selection criteria, weaker human control, and the possibility of missing important fare conditions.

The topic became prominent after the publication of an industry review by Travel Daily News on June 26, based on Accenture's Consumer Pulse Research and the Talk to My AI Agent report published by Accenture on June 3, 2026. In a broad study, the company surveyed 25,590 consumers across 16 countries, and the travel block cited in the industry publication is based on responses from 2,999 travelers. This does not mean that AI agents will automatically buy tickets for all tourists tomorrow, but the trend is already strong enough to influence how people search for, compare, and pay for travel.

According to Accenture, 87% of surveyed travelers are open to collaborating with an AI-powered travel agent to find the best trip options. Nearly three out of ten tourists, 29%, are ready to let an AI agent make the final choice before payment if it operates within set criteria: budget, dates, preferences, location, service level, or other constraints. Another 7% stated they could trust an agent to make decisions and complete the purchase autonomously. The most telling figure for the market: 71% of travelers expect that within the next 12 months, at least half of their spending on hotels or airlines will be influenced by AI in one way or another.

What Exactly is Changing in Trip Planning

Until now, most tourists used artificial intelligence as a supplementary tool: asking to create a three-day itinerary, compare city districts, explain the difference between airports, or quickly compile a list of museums. Now the focus is shifting further. An AI agent is becoming not just an idea generator, but a layer between the traveler and the market: it can search for flights, check baggage rules, compare hotels, filter options by rating or price, remind about transfers, and eventually initiate bookings within user-permitted rules.

For the tourist, this looks attractive because the travel market has long been overloaded with details. The same flight can have different rules for carry-on luggage, refunds, seat selection, transfers, mile accumulation, and support in case of delay. Hotels can differ not only in price but also in taxes, resort fees, cancellation terms, check-in time, deposits, transfer availability, and actual distance to the desired area. If an AI agent truly reads these terms correctly, it can remove some of the routine work from the human.

But this is where the main editorial conclusion lies: in travel, "cheapest" and "best" almost never mean the same thing. For a short business trip, the most important things might be a morning landing and a reliable transfer. For a family vacation - flexible cancellation, baggage, and arrival time without a night transfer. For a tourist flying through several countries, not only the price but also visa and transit rules become critical. If an agent optimizes only the fare, it may suggest an option that looks favorable in a table but works poorly in a real trip.

Why This is Important for Airlines, Hotels, and Online Services

For the travel business, AI agents are changing the logic of competition. Previously, companies fought for human attention in search, advertising, newsletters, loyalty programs, and mobile apps. Now they will also have to be understandable to a machine intermediary that compares offers based on structured data. If an airline or hotel does not clearly show terms, hides additional payments, has fragmented information about baggage, cancellation, or loyalty, an AI agent may push such an offer lower, even if the brand is well known to the tourist.

Accenture explicitly points to a change in the rules of value: agents need verifiable statements, transparent prices, reliable availability, and comparable data. In the travel sector, this means that a "good room description" or a "great fare" are no longer sufficient. The system must understand without errors whether breakfast is included, if there is free cancellation, if the hotel is truly near the metro, what tax is added on-site, if free carry-on luggage is allowed, and what happens if a flight is delayed.

This continues the broader trend of digitalization of online bookings. We previously wrote about how Booking.com and Oxford Economics estimated the economic impact of online bookings in Europe, and how Air India and Booking.com launched joint hotel bookings for Maharaja Club members. The new stage is that tourists may increasingly arrive not directly at the carrier's or hotel's website, but through an AI assistant that has already formed a shortlist and explained why these specific options match the request.

What Travelers Gain

The most obvious advantage is time savings. Instead of dozens of tabs with flights, hotels, maps, reviews, and entry rules, a tourist can formulate a task in human language: "find a trip for four nights, no night flights, with baggage, a hotel near the center, and the possibility of free cancellation." If the agent has access to quality data, it can quickly filter out unsuitable options.

The second advantage is personalization. Not everyone needs the lowest fare. Some value direct flights, some - an airline with a better loyalty program, some - a hotel with a desk, quiet, and late check-in. An AI agent can potentially remember such criteria better than a standard filter on a booking site.

The third advantage is the control of complex trips. For itineraries with multiple cities, different modes of transport, early departures, separate tickets, and non-standard cancellation terms, an agent can help identify weak points before payment. For example, an overly short transfer, arrival at a different airport, a night transfer without public transport, or a hotel with an unfavorable prepayment rule.

Where the Risks Remain

Despite the optimistic figures, fully automatic travel booking should not yet be perceived as a risk-free norm. Travel is not like buying a standard product. An error in date, airport, baggage, or visa condition can cost significantly more than a wrong choice of a household purchase. That is why even in the study, it is seen that some travelers want to maintain human control: 44% of tourists noted that they wish to remain involved at least at one stage of booking, partly because they enjoy browsing options or have an emotional connection with the brand.

The most important risks for tourists can be summarized in a few practical points:

  • Incomplete data. If the agent does not see all fees, baggage rules, or cancellation terms, its recommendation may be wrong.
  • Incorrect optimization. The system may overemphasize price and underestimate route convenience, transfer time, or the risk of delay.
  • Visa and transit nuances. AI advice should not replace official sources regarding entry, transit, passport validity, and medical requirements.
  • Complexity of responsibility. If a booking is made through several intermediaries, it may be harder for the tourist to understand who exactly is responsible for changes, refunds, or support.
  • Privacy. For an agent to work well, it needs data on budget, travel style, documents, loyalty, and payment preferences. Such data should only be transferred to services with clear security rules.

How Tourists Can Use AI Agents Without Excessive Risk

The best tactic for the near future is not to reject AI, but to keep the final check for yourself. An AI agent can be a powerful assistant during the search, comparison, and shortlisting stage. However, before payment, it is worth manually opening the fare terms, the airline or hotel page, cancellation rules, baggage, transfer time, property address, reviews from recent months, and official entry requirements.

Particular care should be taken with separate tickets, self-transfers, flights from different carriers, packages from unknown providers, cheap fares without baggage, and bookings where "free cancellation" has exceptions. If an agent suggests an option that looks too good to be true, it is useful to ask it to separately explain the weak points: what is not included in the price, what is non-refundable, where additional fees are possible, what the time buffer between segments is, and what happens in case of a delay of the first flight.

For family, business, and expensive trips, payment should remain with the human. Even if the service allows automatic purchase, the traveler must see the final cart, currency, taxes, passenger names, passport data, room type, change policy, and the total amount to be charged. This is the stage where speed should not outweigh accuracy.

What This Means for the Tourism Market

For airlines, hotels, tour operators, and online agencies, the main challenge is not simply to "add a chatbot." If AI agents are becoming a new layer of choice, companies need to make their offers machine-understandable, up-to-date, and verifiable. Fare terms, room availability, fees, bonuses, cancellation rules, geolocation, transfers, baggage, and post-booking support must be structured so that an agent can compare them correctly.

At the same time, the human brand does not disappear. Accenture notes that consumers delegate routine, but are not always ready to give up what has emotional significance. In tourism, this is especially noticeable: people may trust AI to sort hotels, but choose the district for their first trip to a city themselves; they may allow an agent to compare air tickets, but keep a familiar airline as a priority; they may ask to optimize the budget, but not agree to an inconvenient night route.

Conclusion

AI agents do not cancel classic travel planning, but they significantly shift its center of gravity. Tourists will increasingly expect that the system not only shows a list of flights and hotels but explains which option best fits their real constraints. For the market, this means new competition for visibility in AI recommendations, and for travelers - a chance to spend less time on routine, but a need to more carefully check critical conditions before payment.

The practical rule is simple: use an AI agent as a smart assistant, but not as the sole person responsible for your trip. Let it search, compare, and explain, but the final decision regarding money, documents, fare terms, and route should for now remain with the traveler.