Hotels’ Loyalty Race, Amazon Alexa's Upgrade and Southwest's Big Change

Major hotel loyalty programs continue to expand rapidly, with Marriott’s 228 million members facing growing competition from Hilton Honors, which could overtake Marriott by the end of next year if current trends hold. Meanwhile, Amazon has unveiled Alexa+, an enhanced voicebot capable of assisting with travel planning and reservations through partnerships with Priceline, Tripadvisor, Uber, and OpenTable. Finally, Southwest Airlines will allow Expedia and its affiliated brands to sell its flights for the first time, marking a significant change in the carrier’s distribution strategy alongside its new visibility on Google Flights and Kayak. Amazon Alexa’s AI Upgrade: Book Uber Rides and Plan Travel Hotel Loyalty Race: Marriott Leads, Hilton Is Gaining Fast — See the Top 13 Programs Southwest Airlines Flights to Be on Expedia 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 (https://www.youtube.com/@SkiftNews) and never miss an update from the travel industry.