AI consolidates as a new travel booking channel

The travel industry has spent the past two years debating how artificial intelligence will reshape search and discovery. Today, Custom Travel Solutions (CTS) is introducing technology that may answer a more consequential question: how AI will transact.

CTS has launched RouteStack.ai, a new AI-native infrastructure layer that enables large language model (LLM) agents — including ChatGPT, Perplexity, and other AI-powered applications — to access real-time hotel, flight, and activity inventory, and route users directly to completed bookings.

Until now, AI assistants could inspire travel but could not complete it or even check basic information such as availability or price. That’s because when users asked AI tools to book a hotel or flight, the systems lacked access to live information. The result was a conversational dead end — with users redirected to traditional booking sites to restart their search manually.

RouteStack.ai changes that.

The platform connects AI agents directly to live supply across hotels — with flights, car hire, vacation rentals, and activities coming soon.  Cruises, rail, and transfers are on the roadmap. More importantly, it introduces a direct transactional path inside AI conversations.

From inspiration to transaction

RouteStack.ai is built around Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers designed specifically for AI-native environments. Unlike traditional travel APIs developed for web and mobile applications, RouteStack.ai communicates natively with LLM agents, allowing them to understand what inventory exists, how to query it, and how to return structured results within conversational flows.

The breakthrough is not simply data access.

Using proprietary deep-linking technology, RouteStack.ai enables AI agents to return a fully pre-populated checkout link — including selected property, dates, and price — allowing the consumer to complete the booking instantly.

That eliminates the break in the journey that has so far prevented AI from functioning as a true commerce channel.

“This isn’t about building another chatbot,” said Mike Putman, CEO of Custom Travel Solutions. “We’ve built the commerce layer AI agents were missing. The APIs, the deep links, the checkout infrastructure — those pieces already existed inside our broader ecosystem. We’ve now assembled them specifically for AI. This is the moment where conversational discovery becomes transactional.”

A new distribution surface emerges

The implications extend well beyond developer experimentation.

If AI assistants can search and transact in real time, they become a new distribution surface for travel — potentially bypassing traditional web funnels and app-based booking flows.

For hotels, airlines, OTAs, and loyalty platforms, the question shifts from “How do we appear in AI search?” to “How do we monetise AI transactions?”

RouteStack.ai provides a commercial framework for doing so. Brands can integrate inventory into AI-powered experiences under their own terms, maintaining control over rates, customer data, and fulfilment.

Developers and product owners embedding travel into AI applications can monetise through completed bookings, not just data access.

Mike describes it as a once-in-a-decade infrastructure opportunity.

“The AI ecosystem is moving quickly. Developers are going to plug into this immediately. The bigger strategic shift will come when major travel brands recognise that AI is not just a marketing channel — it’s a booking channel. If AI can transact, distribution economics change.”

Timing and market context

The launch comes at a moment when AI platforms are rapidly integrating into consumer behaviour. Search is becoming conversational. Discovery is moving away from static pages. Yet booking has remained anchored in legacy infrastructure.

RouteStack.ai represents one of the first attempts to bridge that gap. Rather than launching a consumer-facing product, CTS has positioned RouteStack.ai as infrastructure — a developer-first platform offering sandbox access, API credits, and open documentation to accelerate integration.

The strategy suggests CTS is betting on AI-native commerce emerging as a parallel booking ecosystem rather than a feature within existing channels.

Source: Custom Travel Solutions