How to Build for Travel’s Agentic Future

The Decision Brief Steve Singh, Executive Chairman & CEO, Spotnana Elena Avila, EVP, Travel Distribution, Amadeus Moderated by Sean O’Neill, Skift THE VERDICT Almost every travel brand CEO at Skift Global Forum touched on what they want AI agents to do. Avila and Singh talked about what has to be in place for any of it to work. The infrastructure agents need to function — real-time content, payments, identity, servicing, interoperability — is not ready, costs are arriving before revenue, and the industry has 70 years of history working against the shared standards that would make it ready faster. PATHS FORWARD Fix the service layer first. Singh said servicing is “90% of the cost structure and 90% of the dissatisfaction that exists in a travel experience.” He said agentic services can deliver the quality of the top 5–10% of human agents consistently and immediately. Avila said the entire industry ranks post-booking servicing as a top priority and that “if and when we collectively crack this servicing issue,” the industry will be doing very well. This has the biggest ROI potential in agentic AI, where travelers struggle the most. Build for interoperability. Avila said the industry needs shared standards for identity, data, and interoperability and that without them, “agentic doesn’t deliver the value that it needs to.” Singh said the industry has “70 years of history … of doing the exact opposite of actually having shared standards” and estimated five to seven years to get there. The companies building proprietary agent ecosystems today may be investing in infrastructure nobody else can use. Plan for costs to outpace revenue at first. Avila said compute costs and look-to-book ratios are rising, and that “we shouldn’t just be complacent and think that revenue will simply come.” Singh said the industry “can’t deliver all this value and say, ‘By the way, there’s no economic cost to it.’” Travel companies budgeting for AI as if the revenue arrives with the technology are underestimating the gap. WHAT TO WATCH The audience was deeply split on whether shared standards for AI agents will emerge by 2030 — 40% disagreed, 34% agreed. How fast the industry moves on identity, data, and interoperability standards will determine whether the agentic future works at scale or fragments into incompatible ecosystems. Singh and Avila both foretold a shift in where value is created and captured in travel distribution. Who pays for the agentic infrastructure — suppliers, travelers, intermediaries, or some new split — is the commercial question underneath every technology decision the industry is making right now. Access all the Skift Takeaways from this event, as well as full session videos, presentation documents, and more editorial coverage at our Skift Global Forum attendees hub.