"It isn't a universal truth, but a vast number of goods and services have their own full-circle moments. While there are still plenty of travel agencies in the U.S., the overall number is still down considerably from a peak in the 1980s. For some industry forecasters, though, the future looks a lot like the recent past, except that instead of travelers trusting human agents with making their travel plans a reality, they'll use AI agents for the same purpose."
"[W]e continue to see OTAs as partners of choice given breadth of supply, global payment networks, service infrastructure [and] hefty advertising budgets," Fuller wrote. As Skift reports, Fuller also noted that large hotel chains don't represent the majority of businesses than online travel agencies work with."The same AI platforms working with Marriott and Wyndham are also working with Booking and other OTAs," he wrote. In other words, history isn't necessarily repeating itself here; instead, it's heading into different territory."
A shift toward AI agents could recreate earlier cycles in the travel industry by replacing human agents with software that plans and books trips. Travel agency numbers declined sharply since the 1980s as consumer booking behavior evolved. Rapid change could occur if AI agents reliably execute the entire booking process with little human oversight, affecting human agents and online booking portals. Major hotel chains are expanding AI usage, but they do not represent the majority of lodging businesses. Online travel agencies retain advantages in supply breadth, payment networks, service infrastructure, and advertising, and many AI platforms serve both hotels and OTAs. Consequently, AI-driven booking may alter business relationships rather than simply repeating past displacements.
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