Can Metasearch Thrive in the Age of AI Operators?

• OpenAI’s Operator, an autonomous agent capable of booking travel, could potentially challenge the relevance of metasearch in the travel industry.
• Industry leaders, however, are optimistic about metasearch’s future, seeing potential opportunities instead of threats brought by agentic AI.

The role of metasearch platforms within the travel industry’s future landscape is being questioned following the launch of OpenAI’s Operator. This autonomous agent can perform tasks like searching and booking travel. Currently available only to OpenAI Pro subscribers, the tool’s wider release could potentially shake up the travel industry, especially the metasearch sector.

According to Mike Coletta, senior manager of research and innovation at Phocuswright, metasearch platforms and autonomous agents like Operator share similarities in their functions. This could potentially lead to metasearch platforms developing their own agents. However, if autonomous agents like Operator prove superior, their value may wane.

Industry leaders remain optimistic, with Steve Hafner, co-founder and CEO of Kayak, expressing bullishness about the new technology. He believes agentic AI could boost metasearch over online travel agencies (OTAs) by leveling the playing field in terms of booking ease and customer service. Johannes Thomas, CEO of Trivago, also maintains that the metasearch model is “very defensible”.

Paul English, co-founder of Kayak and current co-founder of Boston Venture Studio and Deets, questioned whether the future of the industry lies with one company acting as the interface for the entire internet or whether the travel market is large enough to require travel-focused brands to use AI and other new tools to deliver optimal experiences.

Metasearch platforms could adapt to a shared environment with agentic AI, says Coletta, perhaps becoming a middleware layer that provides comprehensive pricing and availability to agents like Operator. The future could be shaped by how economics shift, with factors such as advertisement and commission influences, willingness of travelers to pay for an agent subscription, and whether Operator would pay metasearch engines for aggregated data playing a role. The answers to these questions, Coletta says, will be defined by how travelers adopt and use these technologies and how the industry adapts in response.

Discover more at PhocusWire.