TravelAI announces two strategic executive appointments to accelerate AI‑driven personalization and global growth

 

 

PITT MEADOWS, British Columbia, Apr. 29, 2026 – TravelAI, the UpNext company pioneering the next generation of agentic AI for travel, today announced the appointment of Shie Gabbai and Brianna MacNeil to senior leadership roles. These hires mark a significant step in TravelAI’s mission to reshape how travelers plan, book, and experience travel through intelligent, autonomous AI agents.

 

Shie Gabbai joins TravelAI as Director, AI Experience. Gabbai previously spent more than six years in product leadership roles at Google and most recently served as Chief Operating Officer at Layla, the world’s most widely used AI travel agent. Known for translating emerging technology into intuitive, high‑impact user experiences, he will help scale TravelAI’s commercial ecosystem and strengthen supplier relationships across the company’s rapidly expanding agentic network.

 

“TravelAI isn’t thinking incrementally; there’s a clear vision for what AI‑native travel looks like at scale, and a rare willingness to pursue it even when the path isn’t fully mapped,” said Gabbai. “What excites me most about this company is the freedom to experiment – to move fast, test boldly, and learn in real time. And with an agentic network already operating at meaningful scale, every experiment has the potential to deliver real value to travellers and partners. It’s an incredible place to build.”

 

Brianna MacNeil, who has already been leading AI product development within TravelAI, formally steps into the role of Director, AI Products & Personalization. With more than 10 years of experience in tech startups – including founding her own Techstars‑backed company – MacNeil specializes in product development, AI systems design, and personalization at scale.

 

In her expanded role, she will oversee TravelAI’s personalization infrastructure across more than 470 brands, guiding the evolution of the company’s core AI agents and the internal content‑generation platform that supports TravelAI’s broader agentic ecosystem.

 

“TravelAI is building the future of travel – one where AI doesn’t just answer questions but actively works on your behalf,” MacNeil said. “My goal is to advance our personalization engine so that every traveller receives recommendations, itineraries, and bookings that feel intuitive, timely, and deeply human. We’re creating technology that anticipates needs, reduces friction, and ultimately transforms how people move through the world.”

 

John Lyotier, CEO and Co‑Founder of TravelAI, emphasized how these appointments support the company’s long‑term vision of an intelligent, interconnected travel ecosystem powered by autonomous AI agents.

 

“There is meaningful room to bring more efficiency, intelligence, and personalization to the travel experience,” he said. “TravelAI is building toward an agentic future where AI collaborates with travelers and suppliers to streamline planning, reduce friction, and deliver better outcomes for everyone. Shie and Brianna bring the product vision, technical depth, and entrepreneurial energy needed to accelerate this transformation. Their leadership strengthens our agentic network and moves us closer to a world where travel is guided by intelligence, not effort.”