PhocusWire

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 ChatGPT. Amex GBT enhances Egencia American Express Global Business Travel has updated its Egencia platform with artificial intelligence (AI) features and a new integration with Concur Expense. The update aims to streamline business travel by combining booking and expense management in one system.

Today’s travelers want more. They expect more. And, perhaps more importantly, they dream more—in a world where inspiration comes from everywhere at once and stories, images and ideas are shared endlessly through social media.

Mumbai, India-based hostel company The Hosteller has raised approximately $16 million in Series B funding, as it looks to scale its network and build a broader travel platform. The round was led by PROMAFT Partners, with participation from V3 Ventures.

SiteMinder is connecting its hotel distribution platform to AI booking channels using Model Context Protocol (MCP). The company is updating the platform to support AI-driven bookings via both supplier-direct and intermediary channels. On the supplier-direct side, SiteMinder is extending its Demand Plus product beyond metasearch channels such as Google, Trivago and TripAdvisor into AI environments including ChatGPT and Claude.

The travel industry has been forced to confront uncertainty and ongoing disruption in recent months. The Middle East conflict is just one example. To dive into many of the issues and challenges facing the travel industry, WiT Phocuswright Middle East will take place in Barcelona on June 15, a day before Phocuswright Europe. The two events, held at the Palau de Congressos de Catalunya, will bring together industry leaders to discuss the future of travel amid turbulent times.

Agentic artificial intelligence (AI) is becoming the next serious test for the travel industry. After an initial wave of attention on generative AI for search, inspiration and customer service, the focus is shifting toward systems that can take action: researching options, making bookings, handling payments and managing changes on a traveler’s behalf. That shift has the potential to alter not just the customer experience but the underlying mechanics of travel commerce.

Indulgent explorers are a small, high-value traveler segment, defined by behavior, not just affluence. According to Phocuswright’s Quiet Luxury in Motion: The Indulgent Explorer Mindset, these travelers over-index on longer trips, higher in-destination spend and premium trip components.

The future of travel may be shaped less by technology itself and more by who controls trust, data and access to the traveler. A report from Phocuswright and ITB Berlin highlights predictions made during the jointly hosted Leadership Exchange, which took place on March 3, 2026 at ITB Berlin. During interactive working groups, travel leaders opined on the structural shifts that will define travel over the next two decades.

Africa will leapfrog. Again. That was the consensus running through a panel at WiT Africa featuring Mike McGearty, CEO and co-founder of Meili, Tania Platt, global head of B2B travel at Visa and Adebayo Adedeji, group CEO of WakaNow.

Roameo offers a travel planning platform designed to bring discovery, group coordination and itinerary building into a single experience. Its “swipe-to-match” interface gamifies and streamlines group travel planning. The platform also captures high-intent behavioral insights to help destination partners and vendors improve targeting and travel experiences. What is your 30-second pitch to investors?