We’ve just returned from ITB Berlin, the world’s largest travel trade show, where we had an amazing time getting to connect with hoteliers from all over the world and hearing from some of the world’s top travel experts. From March 4th to March 6th 2025, ITB brought together over 100,000 attendees and hosted over 400 speakers across 17 presentation tracks.
In addition to being the biggest annual meeting place for hotel professionals, ITB always provides an interesting snapshot on what’s hot and what’s not in the travel industry in any given year. So what were the key themes of 2025 that can help hoteliers improve their direct booking strategies, make the best use of modern tech, and compete effectively with OTAs? Here are some of our top takeaways from the show.
1. More travel spend; more of it online
In the “State of the Industry” talk on day one of the conference, we heard from Euromonitor International. They forecasted that spending in the travel and tourism industry will continue to grow for the rest of this decade, including reaching an estimated 5.5 trillion USD in 2025. Phocuswright painted a slightly more optimistic picture, forecasting 6% industry growth in 2025 - perhaps not surprising given their research also shows that consumers rank travel as the highest priority for how to use ‘discretionary’ spending.
Crucially for hotels, Phocuswright also highlighted the continual growth in online travel bookings. Currently, online bookings make up 64% of the global travel market; by 2027, that’s expected to be 68%, with LATAM and the Middle East seeing the majority of their bookings coming in via online channels for the first time ever.
Key takeaway for hotels: Online demand provides an obvious way for hotels to grow their profits by expanding their direct booking channel. But online demands a different marketing strategy, from content that grows brand awareness to personalized messaging that drives more conversions. And of course, the web is the home of Online Travel Agents like booking.com, who constantly fight for the same bookings. Hotels must adopt the right mix of partners, tools, data and insight to capitalize on the online booking opportunity without surrendering potential gains to paying out OTA commissions.
2. AI: becoming more than a buzzword?
It’s no surprise that AI was one of the hot topics at ITB 2025, from technology solutions to consumer perceptions and adoption. As usual, that meant numerous high-level presentations about the potential of AI in the travel industry, from the likes of Lufthansa’s Innovation Hub, booking.com, Google, and more.
But it wasn’t all big picture stuff. Though some of the bigger claims might seem debatable, and there’s still some way to go before AI becomes an intrinsic part of every hotelier’s life, this year’s speakers and exhibitors were definitely moving beyond the general message of “AI is the future”, towards more concrete conversations around “which practical applications of AI can help us most today?”.
Key takeaway for hotels: As Tedd Evers, Global Partner Leader at AWS put it in his interview on AI and Automation at ITB: “The main thing is to start and at least to experience it”. AI doesn’t have to be intimidating, and it can build on the tools you already use. Want some inspiration? Google presented a starter class on AI prompting, while Triptease cofounder Charlie Osmond worked with our client Classik Hotels to show how new ‘low-code’ and ‘no-code’ AI tools can automate existing hotel processes - without waiting for your existing technology partners to build new product features.
3. AI is changing search, but Google's still all-in
According to Lufthansa (using data from Phocuswire), 50% of global consumers expect to use AI-based tools for travel planning in 2025. Whether or not you agree with that number (the word ‘expect’ might be carrying a lot of weight), the potential impact on how consumers plan and search for options was one of the most common AI themes at ITB 2025.
But despite the rise in use of AI tools, perhaps the experience won’t be quite as different as it may initially seem. In one Executive Forecast session, Trip.com COO Lou Schubert addressed the way that customers are searching with Generative AI: “In the traditional search, you’re looking at two or three words. In AI search you’re getting into long sentences. But in our data, we’re seeing less than ten words”. Rather than people expecting AI to do the whole work of planning for them, they’re still approaching the search process in digestible chunks – so discovery and research is still key to their process.
That seemed to be reflected in Google’s approach. Google took every available opportunity to explain how they expect AI to augment a traditional search experience, rather than replacing it (here, here, and here, to give just some examples). That’s no real surprise given the importance of travel within their highly lucrative search business, but it’s interesting to see how they’re still trying to define exactly what role AI should play. Or as one Google presenter put it, ‘you’re seeing a little bit of the sausage in the making’.
Key takeaway for hotels: Search isn’t going to change overnight. It’s not yet clear exactly how new AI tools (which have yet to have a massive impact on overall search volumes) will become a part of the process, nor whether the new AI start-ups can shift more than 25 years of ingrained behavior. Google is a verb for a reason, after all. What’s more, the big AI players, Google included, have been less than forthcoming about the key question for hoteliers: “how can I make sure I show up in AI results?”. In the short term it’s vital that hotels continue to optimize their websites for ‘traditional’ search, while monitoring and investigating what they might need to change. This article is a good starting point for tips on how to approach optimization for AI.
4. Fewer agents than expected?
We’re not talking about shady middlemen here, or the service companies that might support some of your marketing. ‘AI Agents’ are effectively mini-applications - you could maybe think of them as ‘bots’ - that utilize the big AI platforms like Google Gemini to deliver practical outcomes.
AI Agents are a big focus of AI conversations in other sectors and industries. They mean users don’t necessarily need to be AI experts in order to get things done, and can be used in a lot of different ways to make today’s AI platforms (which, despite their powerful capabiltiies, all have challenges and limitations) work more effectively.
They’ve also been causing a stir in the travel world, in particular because of what they might mean for search. You may have heard of Operator from OpenAI, for example. But there wasn’t much discussion of AI Agents at ITB 2025. Perhaps the most specific focus was from Microsoft, who seem to have understood that many users now feel an AI platform is only as relevant as the outcomes it can deliver - especially if you’re not an AI expert. In one presentation they showed how their Copilot tool can be used to easily build agents that can make AI ‘calmer, safer, and more helpful’.
Key takeaway for hotels: The learning curve for AI platforms can be steep. It’s incredibly easy to interact with something like ChatGPT, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to get useful outcomes. AI Agents might be a solution, and they’re increasingly easy to build via a range of different platforms. Consider experimenting with tools like make.com, Gumloop and Microsoft Copilot to see what you can do. Meanwhile, keep an eye on sources like the Triptease blog for updates on the latest industry developments and more tips on how to use AI Agents.
5. Hoteliers are spoilt for choice
It wasn’t all about AI though. This year’s conference sported a record 5800 exhibitors, 5% up from 2024. While it was inspiring to see all the new players emerging, and get a look at what the existing players are up to, it’s also clear that choosing the right partners for more traditional problems isn’t easy for hoteliers. Whether you’re looking for a payments provider, revenue management system (RMS), property management system (PMS), customer data platform (CDP), or any other important component of your tech stack – it can feel like there are endless options.
Key takeaway for hotels: We’re living in a digital age, but don’t dismiss in-person events! The internet makes it easier than ever to research different products and tools, but shows like ITB provide an efficient way to compare, contrast and get your key questions answered in a single day. It’s vital to plan your visit: prepare a list of the solutions you’re looking for so you can navigate the show efficiently (the Triptease stand is always in position #100 in hall 8.1, if you need a handy reference point), and decide what must-have capabilities you need to make sure you’re not wasting time with unsuitable vendors. And we’d always recommend leaving some time to just look around - you might find some amazing technology that didn’t show up in your online research.
6. Personalization is key to direct bookings
For all the talk about the potential of AI, many of the hoteliers we spoke to at ITB 2025 had much more immediate concerns: how to improve and optimize their marketing, combat the power of OTAs, and increase direct bookings.
It’s far from a level playing field, after all. Phocuswire estimates that AirBnB, booking.com, Expedia and Trip.com spent a combined $17.8billion on sales and marketing in 2024. To compete, hotels need to be faster, smarter and more personalized. That might mean making sure you always offer the best price in Metasearch, customizing your website experience based on visitor behavior, or targeting specific guest audiences across multiple marketing channels. Or simply collecting first-party data like email addresses you can use to target guests more precisely.
Key takeaway for hotels: Tackling low-hanging fruit is essential to getting started with personalization. Consider tools like the Triptease Data Marketing Platform that can help you target more valuable bookings across marketing channels, take care of OTA parity issues and deliver a personalized guest journey that results in more direct bookings.
Making the most of our ITB insights
ITB Berlin 2025 showcased the opportunities ahead for hoteliers and the direct booking landscape. With travel demand continuing to rise and digital channels becoming even more dominant, now is the time for hotels to refine their direct booking strategies, leverage AI effectively, and cut through the noise of an overwhelming tech landscape.
We’re committed to helping hotels make sense of these high-level trends and turn them into actionable strategies that drive more direct revenue. Whether it’s optimizing your website for AI search, personalizing guest experiences with first-party data, or building out a great tech stack, our direct booking experts are here to help.
Get in touch with Triptease today
