Good Monday morning from Seattle . . . For those of you who have served in the armed forces, thank you for your service. Our Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, May 23, 2025, is below. This week’s Update features stories for everyone – leisure, corporate / managed and group. I hope you enjoy.
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- Accor to Launch New Event / Meeting Direct Booking Tool. Accor this past week announced plans to launch a new direct booking tool targeting clients seeking meeting / event space and associated guest room blocks. The initial version of the platform (to be available later this year) will allow bookings of small room blocks (up to 30). The second, more robust version (which be available in 2026), will allow the booking of meeting / event space and larger room blocks. The platform will also allow users to connect with Accor’s loyalty program, ALL Accor.
- Swiss Regulators Cut Booking.com Commissions. In an unusual ruling, the Swiss Price Supervisor determined that the commissions charged by Booking.com to Swiss hotels are “excessive” and ordered Booking.com to reduce its commissions by up to 25%. The ruling takes effect 3 months after becoming final and will remain in effect for three years. According to the Supervisor, the ruling is intended to improve the competitiveness of Swiss hotels. Not surprisingly, Booking.com has stated that it intends to appeal the determination, arguing that Booking is one of multiple channels that Swiss hotels can choose to use. Note that the ruling has a very narrow application – it applies only to hotels physically located in Switzerland. As much as hoteliers around the world like to see a similar result in their jurisdiction, such a ruling is highly, highly unlikely (maybe impossible).
- Travel Features Prominently in Google’s Recent AI Announcements. At this past week’s Google I/O 2025 developer conference, Google announced several AI enhancements to its industry-leading search engine and related products. As with most AI announcements, Google’s demos of the new enhancements were heavily oriented to the travel industry. Among its many announcements and demonstrations, Google announced a new AI-enhanced search upgrade – AI Mode. With AI Mode (which expands on Google’s existing AI Overview), users can provide the search engine detailed queries that require the search engine to complete multiple simultaneous searches. Users who wish to receive personalized responses from AI Mode can grant the tool access to their Gmail accounts and prior website searches. Other related announcements included a new AI agent that allows AI Mode to complete web searches on behalf of the user. Initial uses of the agentic tool included event ticket purchases, restaurant reservations and local appointments (all completed via third party partnerships with Ticketmaster, Stubhub, Resy and Vagaro). Hotel bookings were not featured in the demos, but the application is obvious and cannot be too far behind. Google’s new AI Mode is available to U.S. users now, with the agentic tools available later this summer.
Have a great week everyone.