Good Saturday morning from San Diego . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, May 1, 2026, is below. As the number of stories included in our weekly Update indicate, it was a busy week in online travel with Booking Holdings’ quarterly earnings release (a complete copy of the earnings
Online Travel Faces the Next Phase of AI Commercialization
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, April 24, is below. It was another interesting week at Booking.com (second in a row) as it faces yet another competition law inquiry – this time from Italian competition authorities over the preferential treatment provided properties in
Gaps in Trust, Security and AI Visibility Define a Challenging Week in Online Travel
Good Sunday evening from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, April 17, 2026, is below. Booking.com featured prominently in many of last week’s industry headlines and for reasons it would probably rather avoid. Enjoy.
-
- The Secret to AI Visibility? NerdWallet. Not really, but according to a recent
Subtle Shifts in Online Travel: Hopper Lands RBC, AI Hiring Reveals Priorities & Booking.com Changes Course in Chile
Good Sunday morning from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, April 10, is below. It was a relatively quiet week in the online travel industry as evidenced from this week’s stories. Enjoy.
-
- Hopper Scores Desperately Needed Victory with RBC. Last week’s newly announced partnership between Hopper and
Amazon and OpenAI Push Ahead While Amadeus Scores a Court Win
Good Saturday afternoon from sunny Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, April 3, 2026, is below. This week’s Update features a variety of stories, including an update from Amazon and its plans for Alexa Plus and travel. Enjoy.
-
- Amazon Seeks to Collapse Travel Discovery and Booking into
White House AI Framework Stakes Out National Policy Position – Developers and Deployers Now Watch and Wait
On March 20, 2026, the White House announced a comprehensive national legislative framework (the “Framework”) that tracks with its December 2025 AI Preemption Executive Order and its July 2025 AI Action Plan and takes aim at hot-button AI policy topics such as child safety and privacy, AI training and copyright, liability protections and preemption of state
The AI Divide: Google and OpenAI Bet on Different Futures
Good Sunday afternoon from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, March 27, 2026, is below. This week’s Update highlights the different approaches currently being taken by the two AI heavyweights, Google and OpenAI, over AI commerce. Enjoy.
-
- OpenAI Builds Out Advertising Team with Key Meta Hire. Over
Event in Review | 12th Advertising Law Symposium
On March 12, Venable’s Advertising and Marketing Group hosted its 12th Advertising Law Symposium in Washington, DC, bringing together in-house counsel, marketing executives, and industry professionals to examine the legal and regulatory landscape facing advertisers. The panels focused on a range of the latest topics in advertising law, including FTC enforcement priorities, pricing
White House Releases Framework for AI Priorities
The White House has released a National Policy Framework for Artificial Intelligence (AI) urging strong Federal leadership to develop a uniform, nationwide AI policy that protects Americans while enabling the United States to “win the AI race.” The policy calls for a comprehensive national legislative framework with six key objectives: (1) protecting children and empowering
A Busy Week for Travel Tech: Google, Booking, Hilton and Hopper in Focus
Good Sunday afternoon from Seattle . . . Our weekly Online Travel Update for the week ending Friday, March 20, 2026, is below. This week’s Update features a wide variety of stories, includes updates from OpenAI, Google and Hopper (sort of). Enjoy.
-
- Google Doubles Down on Agentic Commerce. As OpenAI re-thinks (perhaps only temporarily) its