CES 2026: Sabre’s AI becomes our travel brain 

Sabre used the CES tech expo in Las Vegas this week to make a simple point: travel planning has become far more complicated than it needs to be, and software should take responsibility for fixing that. Rather than asking travellers to jump between search tools, booking engines and confirmation emails, Sabre is pushing toward systems that can interpret goals and handle the entire process end to end.

The company showed how this shift revolved around agentic AI, software designed to make decisions and act on them. Instead of filtering flights and comparing hotels, users describe the trip they want. The system interprets constraints, selects options and executes bookings across airlines, accommodation and experiences.

Sabre is embedding intelligence directly into the infrastructure that already underpins much of the travel industry, from airlines and hotel groups to corporate travel platforms. Access to live inventory and pricing turns AI from a suggestion engine into something operational.

At CES, Sabre’s demos focused on everyday travel problems rather than edge cases: Planning a short city break with specific interests; Booking a business trip with time pressure and budget limits; Adjusting an itinerary when a flight is delayed or cancelled. The AI agent executes changes, rebooks services and keeps the trip intact.

This approach shifts how travel technology works. Previously, progress meant better interfaces and more filters. Sabre is arguing that interfaces themselves are the problem. If a system understands goals, the traveller should not have to translate it into checkboxes and dropdown menus.

The shift also reflects where AI is heading more broadly. The early phase focused on generating text and answering questions. The next phase is about delegation. Instead of asking software for help, users hand over tasks with clear boundaries and let the system take responsibility for outcomes.

Travel is an ideal test case. It is fragmented, rules-heavy and prone to disruption. Every booking involves multiple providers, each with their own policies and systems. When something goes wrong, the burden usually falls back on the traveller to fix it. Sabre’s pitch is that this burden should move to the software layer.

There is a practical reason Sabre can make this claim with credibility. It already sits at the centre of global travel commerce, connecting airlines, hotels, car rentals and agencies. That position gives it access to transactional data and operational workflows that startups simply do not have. AI built on top of that foundation can move beyond theory.

At CES, Sabre positioned its platform as an intelligence layer rather than a consumer destination. Travellers may never interact directly with a Sabre-branded interface. Instead, airlines, agencies and travel platforms can integrate these AI agents into their own services, reshaping how customers plan and manage trips without changing brands.

This also changes the role of human travel agents. Sabre was careful to position AI as supervision-heavy rather than autonomous chaos. Agents set rules, approve actions and step in for complex scenarios. The system handles routine decisions and rapid responses, freeing humans to focus on experience and exceptions.

Trust sits at the centre of this model. Delegating decisions requires visibility into how those decisions are made. Sabre emphasised explainability, with AI agents able to show why certain options were chosen, how trade-offs were evaluated and which constraints drove the outcome. Without that transparency, autonomy becomes a liability.

There are broader implications too. If conversational intent replaces search and comparison, traditional travel marketing and ranking models are disrupted. Being the cheapest or most visible option matters less if the system prioritises suitability, loyalty preferences or past behaviour. Travel becomes less about browsing and more about orchestration.

If Sabre’s vision holds, the future of travel planning will be about stating what you want to do, then letting the system handle the rest.

* Arthur Goldstuck is CEO of World Wide Worx, editor-in-chief of Gadget.co.za, and author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to AI – The African Edge.