Expedia CEO Ariane Gorin suggests that people derive significant happiness from the process of planning their trips, and thus, an entirely end-to-end AI chatbot that handles every aspect of travel booking may not be what consumers desire. This perspective was shared at Expedia's Explore partner conference, where Gorin acknowledged that their initial aim was to develop a comprehensive AI chatbot. However, insights gained since the launch of Expedia's AI trip-planning chatbot, Roamie, two years ago, indicate that more focused "point agents" for specific tasks are currently more effective. This approach allows travelers to maintain involvement in the planning process, rather than having AI do everything for them, and permits collaboration with others.

Gorin also stressed the importance of trust and reliability, indicating that these factors give Expedia an edge over large language model (LLM) chatbots. She explained that Expedia continuously updates 65,000 properties and their attributes, providing a level of certainty that travelers prefer over the mere plausibility offered by some AI. An Expedia-commissioned YouGov survey of 5,700 travelers in the U.S., UK, and India revealed that only 53% are receptive to AI-suggested travel options, and a mere 8% are comfortable booking entirely through an AI platform. This highlights an "AI trust gap" where travelers prefer human assurance for actual bookings due to concerns about control, data privacy, and customer service.

While only 8% are comfortable with AI handling bookings, a larger percentage of travelers are open to using AI for lower-stakes activities. For instance, 53% are comfortable with AI-generated suggestions, 42% would use it to track prices, and 40% would let it build itineraries. Clayton Nelson, Expedia's Vice President of AI alliances, noted that travelers have questions about whether an AI agent would book the right things, keep financial data safe, and protect personal data from third-party sales. Consequently, Expedia is focusing on integrating with AI platforms across the travel funnel, from discovery to booking, and has made significant investments in "answer engine optimization" to ensure its brand and suppliers appear in broad AI responses.