Christian Watts is back on the podcast as we go through the AI + Travel predictions made in January 2025

Welcome to 2026 and the first episode of the year on Everything AI in Travel.

As tradition now, I’m joined by returning guest Christian Watts to do something most people avoid: we revisit our predictions from last year and grade them.

Christian ran our 2025 predictions through an AI scoring system (he swears he didn’t rig it), and we go point-by-point on what actually happened:

• Search changed, but Google didn’t die

• LLMs reshaped how people plan (even if they still “Google” quick stuff)

• “Agentic AI” became the buzzword, but real-world booking is still messy

• OTAs didn’t collapse, but the “dumb pipes” conversation got loud

• Authenticity vs AI-generated content became a cultural fault line

• And yes, we argue about whether AI is already mainstream… or just mainstream in our bubbles

We also get into the uncomfortable part: which predictions were genuinely wrong, and what that tells us about forecasting in a year where the platform shifts don’t slow down.

If you want the written predictions, watch on YouTube where they’re on-screen.

Hear the episode here.

In 2026 the podcast is now found on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and now also YouTube (and if you hit subscribe there, you get it before everyone else). You can also catch up on the whole of Series 1 & 2 plus the special Education Series with Santiago Rodriguez now also fully available in these channels.