Booking’s AI Bet, Marriott’s Loyalty Push and Hotels’ Tech Hurdles

Booking Holdings is developing agentic AI to create a more personalized travel assistant capable of taking actions like booking flights, with CFO Ewout Steenbergen calling it key to delivering the long-promised “connected trip.” Marriott is expanding its Bonvoy loyalty program through partnerships with retailers such as Flipkart and Nectar, aiming to reward everyday shopping and draw new customers into its hotel portfolio. Meanwhile, a Skift Research report finds hotels still devote most tech budgets to legacy systems, but the biggest revenue gains will come from upgrading core infrastructure and applying AI to behind-the-scenes tasks like pricing and issue resolution. Connect with Skift LinkedIn: ⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/⁠⁠ WhatsApp: ⁠⁠https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠https://facebook.com/skiftnews⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ Threads: ⁠⁠https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/skift⁠⁠ Subscribe to ⁠⁠@SkiftNews⁠⁠ and never miss an update from the travel industry.