Former Heads of Google Travel and Tripadvisor Form AI Startup to Head Off Online Travel Agencies

The idea of hotels partnering with ex-Googlers and DirectBooking trying to undercut OTA-like Tripadvisor's relationships with LLMs is not without its ironies. Still, the concept of hotels working more closely with LLMs and bypassing OTAs is one that could gain traction.

DirectBooker, a startup backed by former Tripadvisor CEO Steve Kaufer and ex-Google Travel head Richard Holden, wants to feed hotel listings directly into AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini — challenging the role of online travel agencies like Booking.com.

"The default behavior is going to be for the OTAs to win again," said Sanjay Vakil, a co-founder and the CEO of DirectBooker. "And I would like to head off that outcome. But it's going to take more than three people to do that, so we're looking to grow a little bit."

Vakil held various product management leadership roles at Google Travel and Tripadvisor. The other two co-founders of DirectBooker are Chief Product Officer Theresa Meyer and Chief