Wyndham has spent years telling Wall Street that its guests are construction crews, truck drivers, and families driving to the beach. On Thursday, CEO Geoff Ballotti added a new category: AI agents that book on a traveler’s behalf.
"We now have a new type of guest, and these are our new autonomous agents, who we are built to service," Ballotti told analysts on the company's third-quarter earnings call.
Ballotti ticked off Meta's Muse, OpenAI's Dots, Instinct, and other AI assistants that can now search and book Wyndham hotels on a traveler's behalf. Wyndham feeds availability and rates directly to the agents through its central reservation system.
"If we could offer a direct booking path that an AI agent can execute on easily, then we capture that guest," he said.
‘The Million-Dollar Question’
Morgan Stanley analyst Stephen Grambling pressed Ballotti on which matters most: more direct bookings, lower online travel agency (OTA)
Sean reports on the hotel industry. He's based in Washington, D.C., near Marriott's and Hilton's headquarters. Send scoops.