Skift Global Forum Video: New Research on Agentic AI in Travel

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

In this video:

• The next frontier in travel technology: Agentic AI systems able to act more autonomously will plan, adjust, and optimize experiences, rather than just act as tools or assistants, helping travel companies that use them win customers and earn loyalty.
• Personalization at scale: AI can deliver hyper-tailored itineraries, adapt in real time to traveler behavior, and anticipate needs to elevate service.
• The question of purpose, ethics, and sustainability: Companies must ensure their use of AI systems aligns with traveler values and incorporates environmental impact, social responsibility, and meaningful experiences.
• Industry transformation and competitive pressure: Travel companies risk falling behind if they don’t invest in agentic AI capabilities, modern infrastructure, and repurposing legacy technology systems.

At the 2025 Skift Global Forum, Drew Pinto, executive vice president at Marriott International; Steve Hafner, CEO at Kayak; and Kelly Ungerman, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company; joined Skift Head of Research Seth Borko for a conversation expounding on Skift and McKinsey’s recently published research report about how agentic AI — i.e., AI capable of initiative and autonomous decision-making — will reshape traveler experiences and industry operations.

During the talk, the speakers covered several key themes: defining what “agentic AI” means in practice and showing case studies or conceptual scenarios; exploring how travel companies can leverage it to deliver more adaptive, personalized, and proactive services; the risks and trade-offs, such as bias, trust, data privacy, and alignment with values; and finally, recommendations for the industry, such as how to upgrade legacy infrastructure, experiment with pilots, and embed ethical guardrails.

The implementation of agentic AI points to a strategic pivot: Companies that remain passive or incremental in advanced AI adoption may be outpaced by those that embed autonomous intelligence in service design. As travelers increasingly expect flexibility, personalization, and real-time adaptation, agentic AI may become a potential differentiator.

In a global industry where margins are tight and consumer expectations are high, understanding and acting on agentic AI’s potential could mark the winners and losers in the coming decade of travel innovation.

For more insights on this topic, download the new report created in collaboration between Skift and McKinsey.

This content was created collaboratively by McKinsey & Company and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX.