Jeff Kim, CEO at Yanolja Cloud, is a transformative business leader at the forefront of technology, travel and digital innovation.
In 2025, travel technology reached a turning point. Many companies experimented with AI, but the real challenge was the system behind it. The industry learned that innovation is easy when isolated, yet meaningful change only happens when technology connects across the traveler journey.
Travel remains one of the most fragmented industries in the world. Systems for booking, pricing, guest management and service often operate independently, creating friction for travelers and staff. As AI moved from hype to practical use, it revealed that true transformation depends on integration.
According to McKinsey’s Remapping Travel with Agentic AI report, the travel industry is entering a new phase of growth powered by technology-enabled personalization and operational efficiency. Companies investing in AI are already reporting gains in decision making, engagement and productivity. The opportunity ahead is clear. The companies that connect intelligence with operations are positioned to define the next phase of travel technology. The next era of AI will not be about machines that can talk. It will be about intelligent systems that can work together.
The Fragmentation Problem
The past year showed a growing divide between companies that moved quickly with AI and those that could not. Large travel platforms began integrating generative tools, while smaller operators were held back by outdated infrastructure. The issue was not ambition, but the complexity of connecting old and new systems.
Fragmentation has a real cost: Disconnected data leads to duplicated work, delays and missed revenue and service opportunities. Hotels may automate check-in while still using manual processes to manage housekeeping. Airlines may use AI to optimize routes, but still depend on legacy systems for customer communication. AI only creates value when information flows freely between systems.
At my company, Yanolja, we spent much of 2025 testing how to close those gaps. By linking our SaaS platform to lightweight AI agents, we began to connect the operational dots across property management, housekeeping and guest service. Across the industry, many hotel groups, travel platforms and OTAs are experimenting with similar integrations as they look to unify fragmented workflows. The goal is not to replace the human element, but to make it more effective by allowing staff to focus on guests, not repetition.
The Productivity Race
AI adoption is no longer a technology choice. It has become an economic one. Deloitte’s latest travel outlook found that traveler use of generative AI for trip planning doubled year over year, showing how quickly adoption is spreading. The same report highlights that companies investing in AI and automation are seeing meaningful gains in efficiency and service quality, signaling that productivity is now the real measure of digital maturity in travel.
The hospitality sector continues to face labor shortages and rising service expectations. When applied effectively, AI does not remove people from the process. It removes friction from their work. Housekeeping systems that verify room quality through image analysis reduce rework. Check-in queues can be managed by AI-driven kiosks, allowing staff to focus on personal interaction. Service requests can be automatically assigned to the right person without delay. These systems save time, reduce stress and improve service consistency.
The result is not a more robotic experience. It is a more human one, because people are no longer overwhelmed by invisible work.
The Rise Of Agentic AI
Looking ahead to 2026 and beyond, the next leap in travel technology will be the rise of agentic AI. These systems can plan, reason and act across multiple steps. Instead of reacting to inputs, they can coordinate entire workflows in real time.
In travel, agentic AI connects the intelligence of large language models with the physical operations of hotels, airlines and service providers. A delay in one part of the traveler journey can automatically trigger adjustments across check-in, cleaning schedules or transportation. According to Accenture’s Technology Vision 2025 report, 69% of global executives believe AI is creating new urgency for reinvention, and 81% say that building trust must evolve alongside their technology strategies. This shift highlights a new phase in which digital intelligence connects directly with real-world operations.
2026: From Fragmentation To Flow
If 2025 was the year of experimentation, 2026 will be the year of execution. The travel industry’s next evolution will not depend on how many tools it builds, but on how well those tools work together.
AI agents will connect decisions, systems and people. Large language models will serve as the brain, and connected devices and robotics will serve as the hands. The focus will shift from conversation to collaboration. The most successful companies will be those that design AI with transparency, fairness and human oversight in mind.
According to WTTC, the travel and tourism sector is projected to generate 91 million new jobs by 2035, though workforce shortages could leave a gap of over 43 million roles if skill development and digital adoption fall behind. The ability to harness AI will determine which companies capture that growth. In 2026, the real opportunity will not be about chatbots. It will be about productivity and how we use AI to create human-centered value.
Designing The Human Future Of Travel
Technology has always promised to make travel easier, yet the true purpose of innovation is not efficiency alone. It is connection. When AI handles the repetitive and invisible work that slows down operations, people are free to spend their time on empathy, creativity and service, the parts of hospitality that only humans can deliver.
The future of travel is being shaped by those who connect systems, data and people into a single, intelligent flow. 2025 proved that progress is possible. 2026 will show that integration is the key to turning AI potential into real productivity and human-centered hospitality.
The next chapter of travel technology will not be powered by algorithms alone. It will be defined by how we design technology to serve people—not the other way around.
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