Even amid shifting geopolitics, capacity constraints and economic uncertainty, one thing remains remarkably resilient: people still want to travel. That was the backdrop for a spirited panel discussion at the TDM Global Summit Bangkok 2026 titled The Tech Revolution: Battle of the Titans, where some of the biggest names in travel technology explored how fintech, loyalty and artificial intelligence are reshaping the future of distribution and traveller engagement.
Moderated by Timothy Hughes, Vice President Corporate Development at Agoda, the session brought together Nadia Omer, Chief Executive Officer, AirAsia MOVE; Boon Sian Chai, Managing Director and Vice President, International Markets, Trip.com Groups and Nuno Guerreiro, Regional Director Partner Services APAC, Booking.com for a sweeping conversation on where travel technology is heading — and who may shape its next chapter.
Demand Is Shifting, Not Disappearing
The panel opened with a strong sense of optimism around travel demand, despite disruption in some markets. Thailand, panellists noted, has remained resilient, buoyed by strong regional demand from markets such as Malaysia, India and China. While some long-haul dependent destinations have felt pressure from capacity constraints and rising airfares, the broader message was that travel demand has not weakened — it has simply become more regional, more adaptive and more fragmented.
For Chai, that resilience is also showing up in transport patterns, including strong growth in rail across Europe and rising domestic and regional travel in markets such as the Gulf. The conclusion was simple: travel demand is not going away. The opportunity lies in identifying where it is shifting, and adapting supply, products and partnerships accordingly.
Fintech Moves From Support Function to Strategic Weapon
The conversation quickly turned to fintech, which panellists agreed is no longer peripheral to travel platforms, but increasingly central to how they compete. Payments, once largely back-end infrastructure, have become a strategic layer touching trust, conversion, convenience and cost.
Offering local payment options, mobile wallets, buy-now-pay-later solutions and alternative payment rails is no longer about ticking boxes — it is about enabling access and removing friction. For emerging and budget travellers in particular, this is becoming critical. Omer argued that much of the opportunity lies with consumers outside traditional credit ecosystems, where better use of transaction data and banking partnerships could unlock travel access for large underserved segments.
Flexibility, panellists suggested, is increasingly becoming part of the travel product itself, with payments evolving into a customer experience differentiator as much as a transactional function.
The Next Payments Frontier Is B2B
While consumer payments have rapidly evolved, several panellists noted that hotel payments remain far less efficient. Despite innovation on the traveller side, many accommodation partners still face fragmented, manual reconciliation processes across multiple channels and payment models.
That, several suggested, may be one of travel tech’s next major opportunities. Because while customers may now pay instantly with QR codes or digital wallets, much of the industry’s back-end settlement still lags behind. Automation of virtual cards, reconciliation systems and supplier payment workflows could become a major frontier for innovation.
Increasingly, that gap looks unsustainable — and ripe for disruption.
Loyalty Is Being Rewritten
If payments are evolving, loyalty may be being reinvented altogether. Traditional points-based programmes, panellists argued, are being challenged by a more immediate, value-driven model where travellers increasingly care less about accumulating abstract rewards and more about tangible benefits.
Lounge access, room upgrades, airport transfers, eSIMs and practical trip enhancements may matter more than points balances. For Chai, loyalty is moving beyond points into travel utility, where membership delivers useful experiences rather than distant redemption promises.
For others, the very definition of loyalty is broadening. Rather than being measured only by rewards redemption, loyalty is increasingly tied to overall customer experience — from booking and support to service recovery and personalisation.
And for independent hotels, several noted, this shift could create new opportunities to reclaim control in a landscape long dominated by larger chain programmes.
Super Apps or Smart Cross-Sell?
The panel also tackled one of travel tech’s long-running debates: can the super app model truly transform travel? The answer was nuanced. While panellists acknowledged the appeal of integrated ecosystems, several suggested the real opportunity may lie less in becoming a super app and more in mastering intelligent cross-sell.
Travel, they argued, is fundamentally different from everyday commerce. It is emotional, aspirational and discovery-driven — and that makes it harder to collapse into purely transactional ecosystems.
Omer argued much of what is often called “super app” in travel is really cross-sell opportunity. And in that distinction lies an important strategic difference. Because in travel, inspiration still matters. As one panellist observed, travellers often enjoy booking a trip almost as much as taking one.
AI Becomes the Baseline
Unsurprisingly, artificial intelligence dominated the latter part of the discussion. But rather than focus on hype, the panel turned practical — particularly around what AI means for hotel partners and suppliers who may not have large in-house tech teams.
The consensus was that AI is rapidly moving from optional tool to foundational layer. The question is no longer whether the industry will use AI. It is how.
For suppliers, panellists suggested one of the most immediate opportunities lies in better data, cleaner content and more intelligent use of information. Accurate, consistent property content, in particular, was highlighted as increasingly critical in an AI-driven search and discovery environment. Because if AI pulls inconsistent or fragmented data, trust quickly breaks down. And in travel, trust matters.
AI as the Great Equaliser for Hotels
Perhaps one of the strongest themes to emerge was AI’s potential to level the playing field for smaller hotel operators. Historically, major platforms have enjoyed data and technology advantages difficult for independents to match. But several panellists argued AI could help narrow that gap.
From automating repetitive tasks and improving revenue decisions to enhancing guest service and operational efficiency, AI may offer smaller players access to capabilities once reserved for much larger brands.
As one panellist put it, let AI handle the 80 per cent of tasks staff do not want to do — so people can focus on the 20 per cent that actually define hospitality.
That idea resonated strongly because in this framing, AI is not replacing human service. It is enabling better human service.
Innovation Beyond the Giants
Even among a panel of major industry players, there was notable attention on startups and emerging innovation.
Specialist travel, loyalty simplification, trip planning and experience-led technologies were all highlighted as spaces attracting interest. Several panellists suggested some of the most compelling innovation may emerge not in mainstream travel categories, but in underserved niches — from accessible travel to complex, multi-layered journeys traditional platforms have struggled to serve.
And with significant portions of travel still transacted offline globally, they argued there remains ample room for disruption.
The Battle of the Titans — and What Comes Next
If there was a common thread through the discussion, it was that travel technology is no longer evolving in silos. Payments, loyalty, content, AI and distribution are increasingly converging. And competitive advantage may increasingly come not from owning a single capability, but from orchestrating all of them around the traveller.
For all the talk of disruption, the panel ended on a surprisingly human note.
Demand is still there. Travellers still want to go.
And the real opportunity for the industry lies not in reacting to uncertainty, but in continuing to innovate around that enduring desire to move.
Because as this “battle of the titans” made clear, the future of travel may not belong simply to the biggest players. But to those who stay most customer-centric while technology keeps evolving.
