Engine acquires Options Travel to build modern OBT

 

Travel and spend management platform Engine has acquired corporate travel management company (TMC) Options Travel. 

Meeting travel agents where they are: Why conversational chat decides agentic AI adoption

 The fastest way to kill an enterprise technology rollout is to make people learn a new, complicated interface before they can do their jobs.

Navigating the future of OBTs in an AI-driven travel industry

 

How employees spend their workday is changing fast. In the past, an office worker might have spent most of their time inside office productivity platforms such as Microsoft Office or Google Workspace.

Amadeus adjusts 2026 guidance, air distribution hit by Middle East conflict

 

Amadeus has adjusted its outlook for 2026 in light of the Middle East conflict impacting air distribution.

The company had guided for high single digit growth of around 4.5% in group revenue during full-year 2025 earnings but adjusted this to mid to high-single digit growth of around 2%.

Google fined €890M for DMA breaches

 

The European Commission has fined Google €460 million for not complying with the Digital Markets Act (DMA) by preferencing its own services in search.

American Express GBT connects Egencia with Claude AI assistant

 

American Express Global Business Travel has become the latest TMC to link its platforms with a major AI assistant using a Model Context Protocol (MCP) connection.

What the Odyssey teaches us about resilience

Five case studies in resilience

With Christopher Nolan's Odyssey in cinemas, Mia Smith from our Commercial Team, who studied Classics, draws out five lessons for business leaders on resilience. As she puts it: the companies that have the most successful stories are rarely the ones that dodged every storm, but those that pulled through despite the odds and were stronger for it.

Booking Holdings' 'connected trip' vision never materialized, and AI is the latest threat

The first time Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel coined the term “connected trip” as a formal corporate strategy in public was during the company's second-quarter earnings call in 2019.

BCD Travel relaunches Tripsource platform

UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS – BCD Travel has relaunched the Tripsource traveler experience through a redesigned mobile application and website. The company said the updated platform aims to increase traveler adoption, support policy compliance and generate savings for managed  travel programs.

Behavioral science plays into how travelers and travel company teams take to AI, and a human touch is necessary for success.

 

As travel adjusts to account for the productivity impact of artificial intelligence (AI), industry teams are figuring out how to keep up.

PhocusWire's travel tech news briefs: Expedia Group, Apaleo, Klook and more...

 

Here's our roundup of the people, product and partner news from the global travel industry this week.

This roundup was created with the assistance of Claude.

BCD launches Tripsource data analytics platform

 

BCD Travel has developed a new analytics framework through its Tripsource platform that lets clients work with programme, payment and risk data via natural language, the travel management company announced.

Trevium and Pliant launch finance-ready travel payments

PARIS & BERLIN – Trevium, the financial technology platform for business travel developed by S4BT, has entered a strategic partnership with fintech company Pliant. The companies have launched Guaranteed Transaction Enrichment, a new corporate travel payments process designed to provide finance teams with complete transaction data before billing begins.

Loews Hotels & Co expands Oracle hospitality platform

 

Loews Hotels & Co. has expanded its use of Oracle Hospitality technology by implementing additional Oracle OPERA Cloud Central services designed to enhance distribution capabilities and guest recognition across its U.S. portfolio.

Startup Stage: Seatlr wants to connect travelers going to the same city

 

Seatlr users enter their flight number on the app, which then connects them to their destination city's chat room, allowing travelers to plan activities and share tips.

Travel Compositor adds AskIA to AI Trips

 PALMA, SPAIN – Travel Compositor has incorporated AskIA into the front end of its AI Trips booking engine, enabling travel agents to design, quote and book complete itineraries through a conversational interface.

Amid $1B tech revamp, Marriott readies next steps in distribution

 Marriott International has spent the past three years and roughly $1 billion simultaneously replatforming its central reservation system, its property management system and its loyalty platform.

The importance of fundamentals in travel if the agentic workforce is untrustworthy

 Agentic artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to boost the workforce for travel companies but the importance of getting the basics right is not to be underestimated.

Vibe launches MCP server linking AI and TMC platforms

 

Corporate travel tech specialist Vibe has announced an innovation allowing its TMC clients to connect their travel booking workflows with leading AI-powered digital assistants.

Folio partners with Avendra International

 

Folio has joined Avendra International as a preferred partner within their customer-focused eProcurement Solutions Network.