The Future of Luxury Travel — why the generation that grew up booking everything online is now actively seeking trusted professionals.
Recent research suggests that younger generations are not moving away from travel professionals as many predicted. They are becoming more likely to seek them out when journeys become more personal and more complex.
According to a survey of more than 4,000 travelers aged 18 to 60 conducted by Chase Travel, and presented at the Forbes Travel Guide Summit in Monaco, 60% of Gen Z and Millennial travelers say they want to work with a travel professional. Their reasons are practical rather than sentimental: access to experiences they cannot arrange themselves, support navigating increasingly complex journeys, and confidence when plans change.
The generation that grew up booking flights, hotels and entertainment without ever speaking to a person is now actively seeking trusted professionals for the parts of travel that demand judgment rather than transactions.
Comfortable with AI. Still Choosing People.
Travelers have become remarkably comfortable using AI to explore possibilities, compare destinations and discover ideas.
What they continue to expect from a luxury travel professional, however, is something entirely different: judgment, privileged access to exceptional experiences, deep destination knowledge, the ability to anticipate needs before they arise, reassurance when plans change, thoughtful alternatives when the unexpected happens and, above all, someone willing to stand behind every recommendation and every decision.
Research from Expedia Group’s AI Trust Gap, commissioned by Expedia Group and conducted by YouGov across more than 5,700 travelers in the United States, the United Kingdom and India, found that 48% of travelers say AI helps them save time and discover places they might not have found otherwise.
The findings point to an important distinction. Travelers are increasingly comfortable using AI to explore possibilities and accelerate discovery. But when experiences become more valuable, more personal and more complex, they continue to place their trust in professionals who take responsibility for the outcome.
Addressing the findings, Expedia Group’s Chief AI and Data Officer observed that travelers’ hesitation has less to do with the quality of AI itself than with accountability — who takes responsibility when a booking changes, a supplier falls through or the experience on the ground doesn’t match expectations.
Taken together, these studies describe the same traveler from two perspectives.
Comfortable letting AI expand possibilities. Still choosing a trusted professional to transform those possibilities into a bespoke experience. The Professional's Advantage Was Never Information.
Information has become increasingly accessible. Judgment has not.
This is exactly where The Key AI fits within the luxury travel world. Not by replacing professional expertise. By dramatically reducing the time spent on research, investigation, structuring and presentation, allowing professionals to focus on what matters most: designing exceptional bespoke experiences.
At the heart of The Key AI is Bespoke Experiences Studio (BES), designed around the creative process behind exceptional journeys.
Every experience begins with a creative brief. Beyond the destination, duration, number of guests and budget, the professional defines the aspirations, desired atmosphere, emotions, travel style, interests and preferences that should shape the experience.
From that creative brief, BES designs a complete bespoke experience, bringing together destinations, accommodations, experiences and services into one cohesive concept tailored to that specific traveler’s request.
The professional remains in complete control — reviewing, refining, replacing recommendations, introducing preferred suppliers and shaping every detail before presenting the final experience to the traveler.
The final proposal is ready to deliver: a branded presentation for the traveler, and a fully editable internal document containing the complete experience, narrative, budgets and margins, with the flexibility to transfer everything into the professional’s own templates and workflows.
Ready in under 30 minutes instead of one to two days. Trust Is the Competitive Advantage.
If 60% of the next generation of luxury travelers are actively choosing to work with travel professionals, the opportunity is not to compete with AI.
It is to combine human judgment with a new generation of intelligence designed to support luxury travel professionals.
Luxury was never built on automation. It was built on trust.
Sources
- Chase Travel, via Luxury Travel Advisor — “Chase Travel Survey: 60% of Gen Z and Millennial Travelers Want to Use Travel Advisors”
- Expedia Group — The AI Trust Gap (2026)
