The women shaping travel’s next phase of growth at ITB Berlin

Carolina is focused on building B2B foundations that make end-to-end travel easier to create, sell, and support. For 2026, that means scaling Rapid API across more lines of business — flights, lodging, cars, travel protection, and activities — so partners can bring full trip experiences together in a single flow.

She’s also seeing partner curiosity around AI intensify, with more questions about how it shows up in products and how Expedia Group is approaching it overall. The balance she’s managing is familiar to anyone scaling innovation: moving quickly from pilot to broader availability without losing early-adopter trust. Her north star stays consistent: “We’re approaching 2026 and beyond to be the ultimate travel ecosystem built for growth.”

Travel is becoming one of the most powerful media environments — and attention is the prize. For Jennifer, “our growth opportunity lies in the ability to help our advertisers cut through the clutter.” That’s why in 2026 she’s focused on scaling Expedia Group Advertising and expanding its Travel Media Network. By leveraging first-party booking data, strategic partnerships, and digital platforms, Expedia Group Advertising aims to help advertisers reach the right traveler at the right time across the journey.

Jennifer is also seeing a shift in what partners want, which is less emphasis on volume for volume’s sake and more pressure on efficiency, AI-driven personalization, and measurable performance. As a result, many advertisers are consolidating toward fewer partners who can deliver across awareness, engagement, and conversion.

Jennifer’s key takeaway from ITB Berlin was the strong conversations around AI and “agentic commerce.” But she also noticed attention on sustainable tourism — including the rise of regenerative tourism approaches and destination strategies that prioritize quality over quantity and disperse travelers beyond overcrowded hotspots.

Julie sees hotel growth in 2026 coming from strong fundamentals — competitive content, smart tactics, and full use of differentiated B2B offerings like distribution rates and business rates. But she’s especially energized by what advertising can unlock for hotel partners looking to improve their marketplace position and take share.

The goal, in her view, is not just having the right tools, but making them easy to adopt and use at scale, through stronger capabilities and account team enablement. Even as AI in the travel industry accelerates how teams analyze the business and find opportunities, she’s clear on what cannot be lost: “Human interaction is the cornerstone of hospitality.”

For the experiences and activities sector, Kasia has noticed partner conversations shifting from distribution to strategy this year. More partners want a consultative relationship and a thought partner who can help drive incremental demand using Expedia Group’s reach, data, and technology.

That expectation has been especially visible at ITB Berlin 2026, with strong interest in what the Tiqets acquisition means for the category and how to build more connected, traveler-centric experiences. Kasia is candid about the operating reality behind that ambition — speed vs quality and innovation vs simplicity — and the discipline required to adjust quickly when things drift out of balance. As she puts it: “Partners want a thought partner that helps them bring incremental demand.”

For Faye, 2026 is a turning point for cars at Expedia Group — expanding from a strong consumer-led business into the next phase of growth through B2B. Her focus is on enabling supply to support expanding the Car API for demand partners and shifting the mindset from scaling a single product to enabling a platform that amplifies reach, innovation, and traveler impact across the ecosystem.

In parallel, she’s seeing partner conversations become more data-driven and more strategic: partners want pricing and demand insights, but they also want a clearer value story in a commoditized category. When it comes to trade-offs, Faye is unwavering that trust must win over speed because sustainable growth depends on traveler confidence. As she puts it: “We’re not just growing a product, we’re unlocking the platform.”

Natalia’s growth focus is built around a principle that comes up repeatedly in business travel conversations at ITB Berlin — quality at scale.

For 2026, she’s centered on optimizing the reliability of hotel supply through stronger availability, content accuracy, and performance supported by technology and AI-driven monitoring. She’s also seeing expectations rise quickly: partners want deeper transparency, cleaner content, and actionable insights, with performance visibility becoming core to commercial conversations.

For Natalia, the key is scaling with purpose while protecting operational excellence, because long-term trust is earned through stability and consistency. Her ITB read is blunt and timely: “The industry is looking for more resilient and intelligent ecosystems, not just more connections.”

Ivana’s view of growth is rooted in partnership fundamentals — deeper alignment, earlier planning, and clear, shared objectives. In 2026, she’s prioritizing strategic B2B relationships supported by transparent data sharing within clear boundaries, as well as a sharp focus on matching the right product to the right source markets and pricing it to drive sustainable volume.

Alongside rising expectations for transparency and long-term clarity, Ivana is also seeing commercial conversations evolve toward profitability and incremental value rather than pure volume. While smarter distribution and AI adoption were front and center at ITB Berlin, Ivana draws a clear line on what technology should really do: “Strengthen collaboration, not replace the human relationships that drive this industry.”