BERLIN, March 13, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Layla, an AI-powered travel planning platform, today announced it has processed over $1 billion in planned trip value across 30 million travel messages – with 40% of users skipping traditional destination searches, representing a fundamental shift in how travel decisions are made.
Trips beginning without a destination have tripled since 2023, rising from approximately 12% to more than 40% today. Proving that traditional “search-and-filter” is collapsing faster than expected.
Instead of destinations, travelers increasingly begin with identity and constraints: “We’re traveling with our two kids. One is obsessed with animals and the other refuses to walk more than ten minutes, so we’re looking for somewhere warm in February where we can explore nature without complicated logistics.”
Layla’s data also shows that travel planning has become significantly more dynamic and interdependent. Across 30M messages, Layla analyzed how flights influence hotel choices, how weather checks trigger destination changes, and how budget reallocation enables experience upgrades. In many cases, travelers modify their destination mid-planning as preferences crystallize through conversation rather than search.
“Traditional travel platforms ask ‘where do you want to go?’ Our data proves: that’s increasingly the wrong question Expedia, Booking.com and Google Travel lead with,” said Saad Saeed, CEO of Layla. “Travelers today lead with who they are and what they need. The destination becomes an output of those constraints, not the input. That’s a fundamental structural shift within our industry.”
Layla generated more than 2 million trip itineraries representing over $1 billion in planned trip value. The platform now maps more than 1,400 traveler micro-segments – including accessibility needs, dietary restrictions, family dynamics, budget sensitivities, aesthetic preferences and more – that traditional destination-based search cannot effectively accommodate.
To accelerate this shift, Layla today also announced a strategic 7-figure investment round from global investors including United Airlines Ventures, Baidu Capital, and INCE Capital, alongside existing investors M13, Firstminute Capital, and SparkLabs. The funding will expand Layla’s identity-first infrastructure to further deepen conversational planning globally.
The investment comes as traditional OTAs have acknowledged declining organic search traffic, with some platforms reporting year-over-year decreases as travelers shift to conversational AI interfaces for trip planning. The shift in travel mirrors the broader transition happening across e-commerce, where product discovery increasingly starts with AI rather than keyword queries.
What previously required 20+ browser tabs and many travel blogs is collapsing into a single chat where Layla analyzes traveler intent, constraints, and preferences in real time to generate personalized itineraries balancing flights, hotels, activities, timing, and budget. “The question isn’t whether conversational planning will replace search-based booking,” said Saad Saeed. “Our data shows it’s already happening. The question is which platforms adapt fast enough to survive the transition.”
For Media
– Layla is offering a limited number of briefings combining:
– Founder interview or quote on travel planning paradigm shift
– Custom data cuts for publication-specific angles
– Contact email below to schedule 15 min. interview. Available through 25th March 2026.
About Layla
Layla is an AI-powered travel agent that helps travelers discover, plan, and book trips through conversation. Based in Berlin, Layla has processed more than 30 million messages from over 5 million users, generating over 2 million trips and more than $1 billion in trip value. The company is backed by global investors including United Airlines Ventures, Baidu Capital, INCE Capital, M13, Firstminute Capital, and SparkLabs.
Website: www.layla.ai
