Hotels vs. Online Travel Companies: Who Owns the Customer in the AI Era?

There's been a battle between online travel companies and hotels for decades. There will be no truce in the age of AI.

Who owns the customer in the generative AI era: Search companies like Kayak or hotels? In other words, where is the travelers' loyalty and who controls their contact information and payments? That's been a battle between online travel companies and hotels for decades.

Cloudbeds CEO Adam Harris described the status as "coopetition" at Skift's recent Data + AI Summit. He said hotels would be "pumping their hands up and down" if Google and the largest ad spenders in travel – namely Booking, Expedia and Airbnb – "all disappeared overnight."

The challenge for hotels in the generative AI era is th