Amex GBT, Expedia, PriceLabs, Trust My Group: Travel Tech Briefs

PhocusWire’s travel tech news briefs for October 17, 2025, detail several significant developments across the industry, focusing on strategic partnerships, market expansion, and the accelerating integration of artificial intelligence. These announcements highlight a push towards enhanced customer experiences, operational efficiencies, and personalized travel planning.

### Strategic Collaborations and Market Expansion

Tripadvisor announced an expanded partnership with Expedia Group, integrating Expedia Group’s Rapid API across its platforms. This collaboration will enable travelers searching for accommodations on Tripadvisor to access hotel inventory from various Expedia Group brands, including Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo, and Travelocity. This move aims to provide Tripadvisor users with a broader range of lodging options.

In a significant market expansion, TravelPerk, a Europe-based business travel management platform, is set to acquire AmTrav, a U.S.-based business travel management company. This acquisition marks TravelPerk’s first entry into the U.S. market through an acquisition, signifying a strategic step in its global growth strategy. AmTrav will continue to operate under its existing brand as “AmTrav, a TravelPerk company.”

### Advancing Travel with Artificial Intelligence

TUI Group, a global tourism company, has expanded its multi-year partnership with IBM. The renewed focus is on leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance digital services and streamline internal operations. IBM Consulting will support TUI in integrating AI into its IT systems and customer platforms, with a specific initiative to improve customer service interactions through the use of generative AI in chatbots.

Skyscanner, a prominent travel search engine, has launched a new AI-powered Trip Planner. This innovative tool allows users to input natural language prompts, such as preferences for a destination type or a specific time of year, to receive personalized itinerary suggestions. The AI generates tailored recommendations for flights, hotels, and activities based on user input and historical travel data, aiming to simplify the travel planning process.

Emirates airline is actively trialing ChatGPT enterprise features to boost its customer service capabilities and operational efficiency. The initial phase of this trial is concentrated on enhancing how customer queries are managed via its website and mobile application. The airline seeks to leverage advanced AI to provide faster and more accurate responses, potentially extending its application to other internal operational areas in the future.

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