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.
In 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.
What You'll Learn
- The dual agent problem: Travel merged the buyer's agent and the seller's agent into one intermediary, a setup advertising would never allow.
- Who 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.
- Free platforms aren't free: OTA commissions show up in hotel pricing, so travelers pay for "free" booking indirectly.
- Brands 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.
- The bed bank gap: Today's agents can't reach most bed banks directly because neither side has the infrastructure for it.
- Social trust over model quality: Recommendations tied to people with a reputation on the line outperform model outputs users feel they need to verify.
- Fraud at human speed today: Fake hotel sites with full image libraries already outrank real hotels on their own names and take real money.
- The missing institution: Agent to agent commerce needs identity, authority, enforcement, settlement, and dispute resolution, the functions IATA provides for today's industry.
Time-Stamped Highlights
- (0:00) Everyone's Building the Agent, Nobody's Building the Trust
- (0:45) One Advisor, Two Masters: Eric Leopold on Travel's Merged Intermediary
- (1:45) Why a $20 Subscription Changes Who the Assistant Serves
- (2:21) From Airline Ticket Office to Everything Seller
- (3:22) No Free Lunch: Christopher Olivares on OTA Economics
- (4:45) Bootstrapped by Design: Why Elio Doesn't Monetize the Channel
- (5:24) Getting Branded Out: Mike Putman's Case for the Market
- (7:02) Why Agents Can't Reach the Bed Banks Yet
- (8:08) "Is It Even Legit?": Nancy Li Smith on Unsourced AI Answers
- (9:10) The Fraud Gap: Fred Bean on Moving Beyond Price Centric Booking
- (10:06) Look to Book at Machine Speed: Jim Hetzel on Billions of Bots
- (11:54) Identity, Authority, Enforcement, Settlement: The IATA Nobody Has Built
- (13:40) Six Guests, One Missing Piece
Guest Bios
About the Podcast
The Travel Tech Podcast features long form conversations with leaders across travel and technology, exploring how software, data, operations and distribution come together in real businesses, with an emphasis on tradeoffs, incentives and lessons that transfer beyond any single company or role.
Host Bio
Alex Brooker is the founder of Airside Labs, an AI business that applies aviation grade testing and compliance rigour to enterprise AI systems, helping organisations build and test AI agents in regulated environments. Before founding Airside Labs, he built and scaled complex software in aviation and safety critical domains. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-brooker-2280002/
What is Travel Tech Podcast?
The Travel Tech Podcast, hosted by Alex Brooker, features long form conversations with leaders across travel and technology. The show explores how software, data, operations, and distribution come together in real businesses, with an emphasis on tradeoffs, incentives, and lessons that transfer beyond any single company or role. Alex Brooker is an industry veteran with experience in aviation, start up to exit, and AI transformation.