Expedia adds an AI-native planner to its stack, IHG and Radisson push conversation-led search into the mainstream, and a cluster of CTO and board moves reshapes the leadership map at Choice, AmaWaterways and Access Hospitality.
Expedia adds Layla to the discovery layer
Expedia Group has acquired Layla, an AI-native conversational travel planning platform, to fold personalised trip discovery deeper into its booking flow. It sits alongside Expedia's Q2 CarTrawler acquisition and confirms where the group is spending: the front end of the journey, where discovery is increasingly the contested ground.
IHG and Radisson bet on the conversation
IHG has launched conversational AI search across IHG.com and its One Rewards app, letting guests describe a trip rather than start from a destination field. Radisson, working with Accenture, went further with a ChatGPT app covering more than 1,000 properties across 100-plus countries — two large groups moving guest discovery off the traditional search box in the same week.
WeRoad pulls $58m with Airbnb leading
Group-travel operator WeRoad closed a $58 million Series C led by Airbnb, flagged as the quarter's standout round in that category. WeTravel's earlier $92 million and Smartness's €47 million Series B round out a period in which disclosed funding stayed thin but concentrated.
CTO chairs change hands across the sector
Choice Hotels promoted Tony Pallas to chief technology officer and added Ali Keshavarz to its board, while Access Hospitality named Aravinda Gollapudi CTO and AmaWaterways appointed Virginia Suliman to the same role. Virtuoso also brought in Paul Kearney as SVP for technology — a busy week for senior engineering leadership.
Katanox lands Rob Torres as chairman; Airbnb hires for policy
Katanox named Rob Torres chairman, framing it as a deepening of a long-standing relationship with the company. Airbnb, meanwhile, appointed David Spielfogel as global head of public policy — a signal of where regulatory attention is heading as AI-labelling rules take effect.
RMS creeps inside the PMS dashboard
RoomPriceGenie launched Revenue Intelligence, surfacing real-time pricing signals and market data directly inside PMS dashboards, while Cloudbeds added a two-way integration with Climber RMS and Sceptre wired Wave RMS into Apaleo. The pattern is consistent: revenue management is being pulled into the operational screen rather than kept in a separate tool.
EU switches on AI-labelling rules
From August 2 the EU requires AI-generated images, audio and text designed to appear authentic to be visibly labelled and watermarked. For a sector rushing conversational and generative tools into guest-facing channels, it is the first hard compliance line drawn around that adoption.
On the calendar
- HEDNA Global Distribution Conference 2026 — 2026-09-14, Orlando, United States
- WYSTC 2026 — 2026-09-16, Marrakech, Morocco
- Arival 360 Las Vegas 2026 — 2026-09-27, Las Vegas, United States
- Hospitality Tech Expo 2026 — 2026-09-29, London, United Kingdom
More next week.
