As 2025 closes, it is worth reflecting on which travel technology trends materialized as predicted and which developed differently — and using that assessment to frame what enterprise travel companies should prioritize heading into 2026.
What Developed as Expected
NDC surcharges from major carriers accelerated exactly as forecast. Lufthansa Group, Air France-KLM, and British Airways all introduced meaningful GDS content fees in 2025, driving a material shift in enterprise travel distribution strategy. Companies that had begun NDC integration work in 2024 were able to adapt; companies that had deferred saw cost increases that were not budgeted.
AI-assisted content workflows — itinerary generation, support inquiry classification, and document automation — moved from pilot to production at more travel companies than most analysts predicted. The limiting factor was consistently data infrastructure rather than AI model capability.
What Developed Differently
Conversational AI travel booking — the ability for customers to plan and book through natural language interfaces — remained a demo feature for most of 2025. The accuracy requirements for booking transactions proved more resistant to current model capabilities than optimistic forecasts suggested. Expect 2026 to see narrow but reliable conversational booking for simple, high-frequency transaction types.
2026 Priorities for Enterprise Travel Technology
Three priorities stand out for enterprise travel companies in 2026: First, completing the data infrastructure investment that AI applications require — clean, structured, accessible historical data at booking and customer level. Second, formalizing the hybrid distribution architecture that combines GDS backbone with direct carrier API relationships. Third, addressing the engineering talent gap in travel technology — the intersection of travel domain expertise and modern software engineering remains undersupplied relative to demand.
The Bespoke Platform Trend
The most significant structural shift we expect to continue into 2026 is the move by enterprise travel companies away from off-the-shelf software toward bespoke platform investment for their differentiated workflows. The recognition that standard products cannot accommodate non-standard business models — particularly as AI enables increasingly distinctive customer experience approaches — is driving more enterprise travel investment into purpose-built systems. The companies building those systems with deep travel domain expertise alongside modern engineering practices will be the ones who deliver on the promise.
