Explore 2026: New ways for B2B partners to grow

The connected trip experience. Less complexity. Faster ways to launch. That was the B2B storey at Explore 2026.

Across two days of discussions, announcements, product demos and networking in Las Vegas, Expedia Group B2B showed how expanded technology solutions can increasingly support more of the traveller journey in their partners' own customer experiences.

Just as importantly, the event highlighted how Expedia Group prepares partners for a future in which travellers increasingly expect AI-assisted trip planning.

The throughline at Explore was practical: Expedia Group helps partners launch differentiated, trusted travel experiences faster and in-development AI tools will allow partners to plug into expanded Expedia Group B2B offerings in ways that fit their own business models.

Expedia Group B2B is continuing its evolution into a broader strategic platform, with Rapid API still serving as the foundation. But the storey is now much bigger than lodging. Expedia Group's API capabilities are extending across cars, flights, activities, trip protection, payments and servicing, giving partners more ways to bring the trip together in one place.

Explore 2026 sharpened the commercial case for broadening the trip. Drawing on recent traveller research, Stephen Cheng (Vice President, Expedia Group B2B) showed how traveller expectations are shifting around convenience, value and connected planning.

That is where the full trip concept becomes a clear commercial opportunity for partners. Expanding into more trip elements let's partners give travellers more of the journey in one place, creating stronger basket economics and a more complete traveller proposition from planning through in-trip support.

At Explore 2026, Alfonso Paredes (President, B2B & Chief Commercial Officer Expedia Group) revealed the next stage of that strategy: an agreement to acquire CarTrawler, an Ireland-based B2B platform powering transport and Insurtech solutions.

Following the Tiqets acquisition, this new move will extend the platform further into ground mobility and support its push to cover more of the end-to-end trip. and support its push to cover more of the end-to-end trip.

Strong proof points at Explore 2026 came from partnerships already putting the platform expansion to work.

Uber stood out as a clear example of embedded travel in action. Ariane Gorin took to the stage with Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi to discuss how this partnership brings travel inventory into another high-frequency consumer app, showing how partners can add travel in ways that feel native to their own experience rather than bolted on.

Explore 2026 also spotlighted partnerships with Despegar and Global Hotel Card that are already live with newer APIs across cars, activities, flights and trip protection. These examples showed how Expedia Group's expanded platform is bringing more of the trip into one experience, turning new capabilities into real growth.

The capabilities are meant to reduce the time and investment required to launch travel experiences while giving partners flexible building blocks they can adapt to their own brand and customer experience.

Expedia Group B2B manages the underlying travel infrastructure — connectivity, content, pricing, payments, service and scale — so partners can focus on the parts of the experience that truly differentiate their business.

That message carried into the B2B Labs space, where partners got a closer look at capabilities including Model Context Protocol (MCP) and other behind-the-scenes tools designed to bring Expedia Group B2B functionality into partner AI assistants and customised experiences.

Explore 2026 also made clear that this broader, more intelligent platform storey depends on trust.

Across the week's announcements, Expedia Group emphasised the governance and infrastructure behind its B2B platform, including a Responsible AI council that reviews high-risk AI deployments before they scale. The company also underscored that servicing remains a core strategic priority as the B2B network grows.

That foundation matters. Expedia Group B2B currently handles more than 7 million servicing calls a year for partners and provides 24/7 native voice support across 25 languages. For partners, that combination of governance, service and scale is what helps make broader trip experiences feel not just innovative, but dependable.

Expedia Group B2B is building a platform that helps partners sell more, serve better and capture more of the trip, with clearer places to plug in across product, partnership and roadmap conversations.

The most useful takeaway from Explore is not to do everything at once. It is to identify the next move that will create the most value for your business now.