# Booking tests five AI bets and Agoda is next in line

Canonical-URL: https://notitur.com/en/digest/booking-ai-experiments-agoda-next
Text-Version: https://notitur.com/en/digest/booking-ai-experiments-agoda-next.txt
Markdown-Version: https://notitur.com/en/digest/booking-ai-experiments-agoda-next.md
Language: en
Published: 2026-09-14T18:16:30.208Z
Modified: 2026-09-14T18:16:30.208Z
Author: Joan Sanz
Topics: Artificial Intelligence
Summary: Booking and Expedia are attacking consumer AI from several angles at once: chatbots, specialised agents and startups. Agoda is reportedly next in line.

## Article

Booking is not betting on a single piece of AI, it is testing five at once. [Skift](https://skift.com/2026/09/14/bookings-5-ai-experiments-and-why-agodas-is-next/) reports it: the company is covering several fronts, from chatbots to specialised agents, plus startup investments. That is the comfortable position of someone with enough scale to afford failing on four of the five attempts.

Expedia plays the same game, and that is the interesting part. Both giants overlap on the surface, yet differ in how they build and what they buy. The race is not about who has the prettier assistant, it is about who gets that assistant to close bookings without wrecking margin or distribution control.

According to Skift, **Agoda is next to make its move**. It makes sense. The Asian market is a perfect lab for conversational AI, with mobile users used to sorting everything through chat and local competitors that do not wait around.

My take: in 2026, AI inside OTAs will no longer be a shop-window experiment, it will be one more layer of the business. Hoteliers who know how to plug those agents into their own direct channel will play with an edge. Those who just watch from the stands will see intermediation get more convenient for the traveller and more opaque for them.

## Sources

- Skift: https://skift.com/2026/09/14/bookings-5-ai-experiments-and-why-agodas-is-next/

## Citation

Booking tests five AI bets and Agoda is next in line. Notitur. 2026-09-14. https://notitur.com/en/digest/booking-ai-experiments-agoda-next