{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Travel Tech Podcast","title":"Trust as Infrastructure: Who Your AI Travel Agent Actually Works For","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":871,"description":"Everyone is racing to build the AI agent that books your trip, and nobody is building the thing that makes it safe to use one.\n\nIn this themed episode, host Alex Brooker brings together six guests from different corners of travel and aviation who independently arrived at the same conclusion: agentic travel has a trust problem, not a model problem. Eric Leopold, Christopher Olivares, Mike Putman, Nancy Li Smith, Fred Bean, and Jim Hetzel each address who an AI agent really works for, how a traveler would know, and who makes it right when something goes wrong.\nWhat You'll Learn\nThe dual agent problem: Travel merged the buyer's agent and the seller's agent into one intermediary, a setup advertising would never allow.\nWho pays decides who's served: An assistant paid for by the traveler can work for the traveler, while one funded by suppliers works for them.\nFree platforms aren't free: OTA commissions show up in hotel pricing, so travelers pay for \"free\" booking indirectly.\nBrands at risk: Personal agents that know a traveler well may route around big OTA brands entirely if those brands don't offer the best outcome.\nThe bed bank gap: Today's agents can't reach most bed banks directly because neither side has the infrastructure for it.\nSocial trust over model quality: Recommendations tied to people with a reputation on the line outperform model outputs users feel they need to verify.\nFraud at human speed today: Fake hotel sites with full image libraries already outrank real hotels on their own names and take real money.\nThe missing institution: Agent to agent commerce needs identity, authority, enforcement, settlement, and dispute resolution, the functions IATA provides for today's industry.\nTime-Stamped Highlights\n(0:00) Everyone's Building the Agent, Nobody's Building the Trust\n(0:45) One Advisor, Two Masters: Eric Leopold on Travel's Merged Intermediary\n(1:45) Why a $20 Subscription Changes Who the Assistant Serves\n(2:21) From Airline Ticket Office to Everything...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/LxpvuNpWwfSGFL1KA1WhoZf9L55ykAqb5rgjXNFqi3c/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mY2Yz/ZjA5OGE1ZmEyMTk4/ODJkYmU1YjhlYjRk/YTMzNC5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}