If your LinkedIn feed looks anything like mine, you’ve probably seen the headline: “Agentic booking is here.” It usually tops a press release or breathless post claiming that AI can now plan your trip, book it for you, and in the process, wipe out all your direct bookings, no clicks, no effort, just doom.
Except, it can’t. Not yet.
Real agentic booking means the AI actually makes the purchase, selects the room, enters your info, and charges your card. What we’re seeing instead (at best) is assisted booking: AI narrows your choices, maybe pre-fills a form, but the process for the most part is still old school internet shopping.
Google recently confirmed it’s developing an agentic hotel and flight tool inside AI Mode. They’re working with OTAs like Booking and Expedia, and the large brands like Marriott and IHG. But even Google admits this is early-stage stuff.
Google says it’ll be an “open ecosystem” with no preference for OTAs vs. direct (we’ll see), and CEO Sundar Pichai says full agentic capability is likely “within 12 months.” Translation: this is roadmap material, not real-world functionality.
So yes, agentic booking is coming, and yes, you should be making sure your hotels are findable on AI platforms and paying attention to how this evolves. But let’s not confuse roadmap slides with reality. Until AI can actually book a room while you’re in a meeting, the headline isn’t “Agentic Booking Is Here.” It’s: Agentic Booking Isn’t Here. Yet.
