Why Travel Needs a New Platform Built for an Open Ecosystem

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

The travel industry faces an urgent need to modernize its core technology. Digital adoption continues to rise, yet many systems still rely on outdated processes that slow the entire sector. New Distribution Capability (NDC) adoption remains around 20% in the U.S., indicating the slow pace of airlines and sellers transitioning to modern standards. Global Distribution System (GDS) structures still control most inventory access and pricing, and long-standing practices, such as strict look-to-book ratios that cap the number of searches allowed relative to confirmed bookings, continue to limit innovation. Other sectors, such as financial technology, have already shifted to modular, cloud-based platforms designed for scale. Travel, meanwhile, remains constrained by frameworks that often make it difficult for new ideas and new entrants to take hold.

Built with a platform-first mindset, OnArrival is developing an infrastructure layer the industry has long lacked. The company’s goal is to open up the travel ecosystem to new entrants, enable fresh use cases, and help accelerate the shift away from legacy systems.

SkiftX spoke with Ankit Sawant, co-founder and CEO of OnArrival, to understand how the company helps businesses tap into a unified, modern stack that reduces the industry’s traditional barriers to entry.

SkiftX: What are the biggest technology challenges facing the travel industry today?

Ankit Sawant: The travel industry’s biggest technology challenge is the lack of accessible infrastructure for new entrants. While sectors like AI, fintech, and logistics give open access to core systems through standardized Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) and developer-friendly platforms, travel remains fragmented and difficult to build on. Legacy Global Distribution Systems (GDS) were designed for travel agents, which leaves new companies without the scaffolding they need to launch quickly or innovate. Although the underlying supply is similar across the industry, reaching and integrating that supply is extremely challenging, making it difficult for newcomers to match the breadth of products OTAs offer.

Other industries solved this problem by building shared infrastructure. Platforms like Shopify solved for e-commerce, Stripe for payments, Plaid for bank account access, and Amazon Web Services (AWS) for being in the cloud. Travel never experienced that platform shift. This reinforces an oligopoly that survives more on accumulated time and technical barriers than on technology leadership.

How do existing legacy systems impact the way travel businesses operate and compete?

Legacy systems make it extremely hard for new travel businesses to get started. Travel companies often need to find the right contact, negotiate terms, complete extensive paperwork, and then wait months for integration. It’s as if we’re expecting developers to understand 40 years of travel history to do an integration that takes less than a month but ends up taking a quarter or more.

This dynamic insulates incumbents from competition, since opening their systems would expose them to margin pressure and force them to operate more like low-margin infrastructure providers rather than high-margin consumer brands. As a result, many operate their technology as closed systems. They selectively decide who can access their systems based on threat level.

What shifts in technology or consumer behavior are pushing the industry to rethink travel infrastructure?

Consumers now engage with far more brands than they once did, and many of those brands operate at a much higher frequency than travel. Travel once dominated e-commerce, but product e-commerce has grown so rapidly that travel now represents a small share. Newer categories, such as quick commerce, have trained consumers to expect speed, flexibility, and constant engagement. These brands sit adjacent to travel and reach the same users more often and more effectively, which raises expectations for every digital experience.

Secondly, AI enables a dramatic reduction in travel’s historically heavy operational workload. Many tasks that required large teams can now be automated and scaled. AI opens the door to dynamic pricing, personalized negotiations, and real-time service in ways that mirror human interactions. This presents a rare opportunity to rebuild travel’s architecture.

Why are more non-travel brands exploring embedded travel offerings?

Many non-travel brands want to offer travel but lack the expertise to handle its complexity. Launching a travel vertical requires far more than plugging into an API. Brands must understand category management, failure scenarios, supplier operations, and customer support — all areas where most newcomers have no experience. 

An embedded travel product removes these barriers by packaging the entire lifecycle into a turnkey solution that feels native inside a brand’s existing app. Companies receive a fully customizable experience that behaves like their own product, rather than redirecting users or struggling through lengthy integrations. This dramatically reduces cost and risk while unlocking new revenue and powerful cross-selling opportunities. Travel’s aspirational nature also drives engagement and marketing value, making embedded travel a high-impact, low-investment opportunity for brands outside the traditional travel ecosystem.

How does OnArrival simplify the process for companies launching travel services for the first time?

OnArrival simplifies the process of launching travel services by removing the operational, technical, and support burdens that typically overwhelm new entrants. Our infrastructure dramatically lowers the cost and complexity of running a travel business. Just as AWS removed barriers for anyone who wanted to build on the internet, we give any company the foundation they need to create and scale a travel offering without reinventing the entire stack.

The platform uses AI at its core, enabling faster integrations, smarter personalization, and more efficient operations. With an in-house model that completes additional supply integrations within a week while contractually promising a go-live in 30 days or less, OnArrival can deliver capabilities that usually require large teams and long timelines. 

What kinds of businesses benefit most from OnArrival’s approach, and how can they partner with you?

OnArrival creates the most value for consumer internet brands, financial institutions, super apps, and corporate expense-management platforms that want to offer travel without building complex infrastructure. These companies already have strong user bases but lack the expertise to manage travel’s operational, technical, and support requirements. We also help AI-driven travel apps that excel at inspiration and search, but struggle with the heavy backend work required for bookings. Existing travel companies can also benefit, since airlines, hotels, and tour providers increasingly want to cross-sell complementary products. 

How is artificial intelligence changing the way companies launch or scale travel offerings?

AI is transforming travel by moving beyond inspiration and into real-time, context-aware decision-making. It can understand a traveler’s preferences, past behavior, and risk tolerance, then generate dynamic itineraries that adapt throughout a trip. AI can now surface events happening nearby, adjust plans on the fly, and coordinate complex variables across flights, hotels, and activities.

The bigger shift comes from AI’s ability to handle the operational complexity that has traditionally broken travel systems. Instead of forcing users into rigid search boxes, AI can manage multi-fare, multi-Passenger Name Record (PNR) bookings, combine different traveler types, and reconcile options across airlines and routes. It can also personalize decisions for groups, factoring in individual tastes in a way existing OTAs cannot. AI has the potential to finally move travel into an open-ended search box like Google.

The industry needs new infrastructure to unlock this future. Large incumbents often face challenges rebuilding from the ground up, but newer players, like OnArrival, can experiment freely and design systems built around AI from the outset.

What long-term industry shifts do you hope platforms like OnArrival can help enable?

OnArrival aims to create a future in which travel becomes a natural extension of any online business rather than a capability limited to OTAs. Concert platforms could bundle hotel stays with event tickets, conferences could offer accommodation alongside registration, and food delivery apps could design culinary trips for high-value customers. The goal is to allow brands to think creatively about how travel improves their existing relationship with users.

We also want to make travel infrastructure open enough that large companies can manage their own travel without relying on intermediaries. With better technology and automation, a corporate travel system could function like an autonomous agent that understands bookings, policies, and negotiations. In the long run, we hope to enable a world where any company can plug in travel services as easily as they adopt payments or logistics.

To learn more about OnArrival, visit onarrival.com 

This content was created collaboratively by OnArrival and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX.