Global travel tech leaders in San Diego highlight balancing AI and tech transformation with loyalty, trust and connection
SAN DIEGO, United States, Nov. 20, 2025 – San Diego set the stage for a lively opening to The Phocuswright Conference 2025, where more than 600 travel leaders debated the industry’s next chapter. Across sessions, one theme rang clear: AI is no longer a future disruptor, it’s a present reality – but loyalty, trust, and human connection remain the anchors. From OTAs morphing into financial institutions, to TikTok and Reddit defending the value of authentic recommendations, to hoteliers wrestling with fragmented systems, the conference spotlighted both the promise and the pitfalls of technology in travel.
“OTAs are becoming banks”: Agoda CEO on FinTech’s future
OTAs are no longer just distributors – they’re becoming FinTech ecosystems, reshaping how consumers pay for and finance travel
Omri Morgenshtern, CEO of Agoda, opened with a provocative claim: online travel agencies are evolving into financial institutions. Speaking to Web in Travel’s Siew Hoon Yeoh, he said: “OTAs… have banks that are accessing debt and accessing travel… and I think it’s only going to grow worldwide. Morgenshtern argued that because travel is one of the largest annual consumer expenses, OTAs are uniquely positioned to offer loans, savings products, and FX services.
He also stressed the entrepreneurial spirit within corporates: “I’m really lucky… that we’re getting not only the support to grow and invest… but also to stay entrepreneurship and an engineering element.”
“67% of TikTok users want human recommendations”: Social platforms push back against AI
Despite AI’s rise, authenticity remains key – platforms are doubling down on moderation, labeling, and creator content to maintain trust
A panel featuring Reddit, TikTok, YouTube, and Google tackled the tension between AI‑generated content and user‑generated authenticity.
Eric DeLange, Industry Director, US Head of Finance and Travel, Reddit noted the rise of “Reddit‑appended searches,” where travelers add “Reddit” to Google queries to find human perspectives.
TikTok’s Vertical Director of Travel and Gaming, David Hopkins added: “67% of our users say the most important recommendation they’ll get from travel is from a fellow traveler.”
And YouTube’s Travis Katz – General Manager and Vice President, Shopping – underscored video’s role in conversion: two‑thirds of travelers watch travel videos before booking, and 95% of top travel channels are run by independent creators.
“The next OTA will look like a credit card company”: Loyalty meets lifestyle
Financial institutions are emerging as powerful intermediaries, blending loyalty, payments, and lifestyle in ways that challenge OTAs, according to industry leaders. The “New Travel Seller Arena” panel spotlighted Chase Travel, Hopper, and iSeatz.
Jason Wynn, CEO, Chase Travel, said: “The next OTA will look like a good credit card company with a great loyalty program called Ultimate Rewards.”
Chase is investing in curated experiences – from Holi Festival trips to St. Moritz with Shaun White – to appeal to Gen Z and millennials, who now make up 65% of new cardholders.
Hopper’s President and Co-founder Dakota Smith revealed that 90% of its revenue now comes from Hopper Technology Solutions, powering partners like Air Canada and Nubank. And iSeatz’ founder and CEO Kenneth Purcell highlighted its long‑standing role behind Amex Travel’s white‑label platform.
Loyalty research: “Most travelers cheat on their favorite brand”
Loyalty programs are thriving, but brand consistency is fickle – novelty and price often trump points. Phocuswright’s Madeline List unveiled new data showing loyalty is fragile.
62% of US leisure travelers redeemed points on their last trip, with millennials favoring credit card points, boomers sticking to miles, and Gen Z leaning into OTA programs. Yet 84% admitted to “gaming” loyalty schemes, and most confessed to “cheating” on their favorite brand.
List warned: “Loyalty is not the product of an interaction with a program, but rather the totality of all brand interactions over the customer lifetime.”
“We’ve taken the joy out of hospitality”: Hotels confront tech limits
Hotels face a make‑or‑break moment: embrace AI and data orchestration, or risk repeating the OTA disruption story. That was the sentiment in Phocuswright’s hospitality executive panel.
CitizenM’s CEO, Leonard de Jong, lamented that hotels lag behind other industries in automation: “We’ve taken a lot of joy out of hospitality… by being on the back foot on the technology side.”
Kristie Goshow, who is the former CCO of Peregrine Hospitality, urged the industry to move beyond a room‑centric mindset: “If anything and everything is inventory to be sold, and anywhere and everywhere is point of sale… then the technology providers need to find solutions that support that.”
Cloudbeds’ CEO Adam Harris predicted a “re‑democratization” of distribution as AI enables direct brand conversations: “In five years, we will not be interacting with websites. It will be interacting with brands.”
And Jean-Jacques Morin, Group Deputy CEO, Accor reframed AI as augmentation: “It’s not so much artificial intelligence, then it is augmented intelligence… just like we go for augmented hospitality.”
Data Appeal launches new agentic management tool
The Data Appeal Company – part of Almawave Group – unveiled a new agentic destination management tool designed to transform how tourism boards and DMOs work with data. The platform replaces static dashboards with a conversational interface, drawing on a decade of curated datasets from Data Appeal and Mabrian to deliver real‑time insights, scenario analysis and even concrete outputs such as reports, alerts and marketing plans. “Destinations do not need another dashboard: they need a team empowered to act,” said Mirko Lalli, CEO of The Data Appeal Company. Positioned as a strategic companion for destination teams, the tool promises to help organisations move seamlessly from insight to execution, addressing labour shortages and data fragmentation while enabling faster, smarter, and more coordinated decision‑making.
To be continued…