Internet/e-Commerce: Consumer Internet Takeaways from the BofA Technology Conference

Research evidence excerpt

Internet/e-Commerce: Consumer Internet Takeaways from the BofA Technology Conference

AI in Travel: Panel Takeaways

Agentic travel strong in planning, not yet in booking

We hosted Michael Gulmann (Founder & CEO of Otto, an AI executive assistant for

business travelers that handles booking, planning, and trip servicing) and Rudi Thun

(operations lead at MindTrip, an AI-powered platform focused on travel discovery and

personalized trip planning) to discuss how AI and agentic platforms could impact the

travel ecosystem. Panelists highlighted that the “decision layer” is where most

innovation and value creation sits today, rather than booking execution. Agentic traffic

flows are limited, and the conversion into booking remains constrained by trust and

behavior inertia. Consumers frequently use AI tools for inspiration but revert to

incumbent OTAs or direct channels for transaction completion. This reinforces OTA

relevance in the near term, particularly given brand familiarity and perceived reliability.

However, according to Mr. Gulmann, in business travel the dynamic differs: fully

integrated, personalized agents (e.g., acting as executive assistants) show higher

potential for conversion and repeat usage, suggesting faster adoption in corporate use

cases vs leisure.

Google/LLMs: Referral power, not full disintermediation

Despite longstanding concerns, panelists maintained that Google and foundational AI

models are unlikely to fully disintermediate OTAs via vertical integration. Instead, they

are expected to deepen their role as metasearch and referral platforms, mirroring

Google’s historical playbook in travel. Short term, this shift could even benefit OTAs, as

AI-led discovery delivers more qualified, high-intent traffic without incremental

customer acquisition cost.