CONX 2025: a conversation with Mirja Sickel [Amadeus]

This year at CONX, we sat down with Mirja Sickel, EVP of Hospitality Distribution at Amadeus. In our fifth edition, Amadeus was one of our official sponsors for AFTERX, and we took the opportunity to speak with Mirja to learn more about Amadeus, her vision for the travel industry, and of course, her thoughts on our events.

About Amadeus: 

Building bridges in travel: Amadeus’ strategies for a connected industry

Amadeus connects the entire global travel and hospitality ecosystem, powering millions of searches, purchases, scans, stays, experiences, and trips every day. From airlines to search engines, travel agencies to hotels, airports, corporations, payments, and multimodal transport, we ensure seamless connectivity across the industry. 

Through Amadeus Hotels, we offer a full distribution platform that brings together multiple content sources, rate models, and booking tools. From global chains to independent hotels, from managed corporate travel to leisure wholesalers, we help travel sellers access, compare, and book the right stay for every traveler, every time.

Technology has become the cornerstone of the modern travel industry, enhancing every stage of the traveler’s journey. From planning with virtual reality previews to booking with the integration of hundreds of travel suppliers, and from touchless airport technologies to AI-powered traveler support during trips, we leverage cutting-edge solutions to improve travel experiences.

Our vision is to make travel better for everyone, everywhere. Our strategic goals focus on fulfilling traveler needs throughout the entire trip experience, orchestrating a vibrant travel ecosystem, and driving collaboration across the industry. We aim to achieve this by fostering innovation, forming partnerships, and being responsible toward people, places, and the planet. In 2024, we invested €1,365 million (gross) in R&D to develop IT solutions that improve operational efficiency and support the sustainable growth of the travel industry. We remain leaders in R&D investment in the travel industry, ranking as the fifth-largest R&D investor in the software industry in Europe.

Our three hospitality pillars – driving profitable demand, accomplishing operational excellence and delivering differentiation and loyalty – bring together our full Hospitality portfolio to achieve these goals.

“We are excited to be at the forefront of making the experience of travel work better for everyone, everywhere.” - Luis Maroto, President & CEO, Amadeus

The travel industry is often seen as fragmented with many moving parts. From your perspective, how important is it for all industry stakeholders to be ‘connected’ in today’s market – and how does your company foster these connections? Can you share a success story that illustrates these connections in action?

Fragmentation is a significant challenge for all players within the travel industry and beyond. At Amadeus, we are dedicated to creating a unified experience by connecting travel providers and travel sellers, developing partnerships, and investing in technology to achieve seamless connectivity and integration across all elements of the travel ecosystem.

By breaking down silos, we aim to bring each part of the travel ecosystem together, ensuring that every aspect of the shopping and booking journey is interconnected, customizable, and optimized to facilitate the end-to-end shopping and booking flow. This benefits travel providers and travel sellers in their quest to serve even the most diverse and demanding travelers.

A great example of our investment in technology to overcome fragmentation is the new Amadeus Hotels Quick-Connect REST JSON API. This API consolidates our vast hotel portfolio of over 2 million hotels from numerous providers into a single connection. It offers travel sellers a quick and simple way to integrate and access the widest shopping and booking options via one central platform. 

The benefits of our Amadeus Hotels Quick-Connect solution for travel sellers include:

• Scalability and Flexibility: A single API for more than 2 million hotels from all Amadeus Hotels content sources (GDS, net rates via Amadeus Value Hotels, Private Agreements, aggregators) providing detailed and standardized hotel content that can be compared and customized in one place.
• Quick integration: The integration process is estimated to take just 4 to 6 weeks, minimizing the time to market with limited technical complexity.
• Real-Time Updates: Real-time updates on availability and pricing ensure accurate and competitive offers.
• Post-Booking Modifications: The post-booking modification feature allows travel sellers to make changes to existing bookings without the need to cancel and rebook.

In our increasingly digital world, traditional human connections sometimes take a backseat. How does your organization ensure that personal, human interactions continue to thrive, both internally and with your customers? What specific initiatives or technologies are you employing to make digital interactions as meaningful as face-to-face engagements?

Recognizing the importance of human interaction, we strive to keep it front and center, even as we embrace digital transformation. By investing in advanced technologies that streamline processes and enhance operational efficiency, we ensure the traveler and guest experience is both seamless and personal. It’s a dual approach: combining the human touch with smart innovation to make digital interactions as meaningful as face-to-face ones.

One example is our use of advanced Guest Management Systems (GMS). These tools give hotel teams real-time insights into guest preferences, enabling them to personalize everything from room selection to welcome amenities. Loyalty profiles and guest histories, whether shared via travel agencies or captured during previous stays allow staff to anticipate needs and offer tailored experiences and benefits. It’s a powerful way to deliver high-touch service through digital means.

By integrating technologies, we’re not just optimizing the journey, we’re enriching it. Through innovation and partnership, we’re making digital experiences feel human, personal, and unforgettable.

Every industry faces its own challenges, and travel is no exception. What do you believe are the most pressing challenges in the travel industry today, and how is your company planning to tackle them? How do you see these strategies evolving with the continuous changes in consumer behavior and technology?

There are a couple of key areas that represent some of the most pressing challenges in the travel industry for us today.

Technological Advancements: The hospitality industry faces the challenge of capitalizing on the opportunities brought by artificial intelligence. We have identified key areas where AI can enhance the traveler's journey:

• Pre-trip: GenAI will revolutionize travel planning phase with inspirational, traveler-centric search-and-shopping experiences. New tools will search, summarize, and present information in accessible ways, driving demand and lowering customer acquisition costs. For example, travelers can use a GenAI chatbot to search for destinations based on a photo or film scene and instantly generate a trip plan.
• On-trip: Travelers will experience more intuitive and personalized services. Conversational GenAI chatbots will understand preferences, and voice-based digital assistants using natural language understanding (NLU) will assist in hands-free situations, like navigating busy airports. Intelligent rebooking systems will resolve travel disruptions faster.
• Post-trip: GenAI will help understand customer feedback, allowing travel businesses to respond to online reviews, boost their reputation, drive repeat business, and maintain long-term relationships with travelers.

Our research teams of AI specialists and data scientists are constantly exploring GenAI possibilities, implementing and experimenting with different use cases, and applying this evolving technology in product development.

Events like ConX and AfterX emphasize the value of building relationships – not only between companies, but also with customers and partners. Could you discuss how you view these connections and why they are essential for mutual growth? How do you measure the impact of these relationships on your overall business success?

Industry events that bring together key stakeholders are essential for building future business success. Especially in today’s incredibly fast-paced environment, staying informed and regularly connecting with peers, customers, and partners is crucial to keeping projects on track and fostering the emergence of new ideas.  

These events are instrumental in keeping up to date with the latest industry news and trends, maintaining connections, and forging new relationships with industry leaders, partners, travel providers, and travel sellers both locally and globally. These events emphasize the value of building relationships between industry experts, new and existing customers, and partners.

As ecosystems are dynamic and ever evolving, it's crucial to seize the right moments to discuss, review opportunities, and explore new ventures. Face-to-face meetings make this process much easier, and the blending of a content-driven day with a social event is an excellent combination. Technology is created and driven by people, and ConX provides a fantastic platform to meet customers, partners, and friends, allowing us to grow and innovate together.

B2B travel distribution is a rapidly shifting landscape. What is your perspective on the current trends in B2B travel distribution, and what do you foresee in the near future? Are there any emerging technologies or partnerships that you are particularly excited about in this realm?

Travel technology is constantly evolving, shaped by changing traveler expectations. At Amadeus, we believe the best way to stay ahead is to understand what travelers really want—and then help our partners act on those insights.

We surveyed 6,000 travelers across the US, China, Germany, UK, France and India to build the Travel Dreams Report. Here are some of the key findings which are driving the latest trends in hotel and travel distribution.

• Attribute based selling drives conversion and ancillary revenue for hotels. 

63% of travelers are willing to pay extra for specific hotel features - such as a view, or entertainment packages. These preferences can increase booking revenue by up to 12% per stay. Nearly all respondents (98%) confirmed that the right hotel amenities would make them more likely to book. That’s why Amadeus is enhancing attribute-level data across our hospitality portfolio - to help hoteliers and travel sellers personalize offers and increase revenues. 

• Personalization is essential for leisure travelers

Half of leisure travelers want hotels to know them better. For this audience, personal touches matter, and data-driven personalization is becoming a core expectation. At the same time, many travelers still value human interaction. Travel sellers and hoteliers need to strike the right balance between technology and empathy.

• Business travelers want automation 

71% of business travelers prefer online or self-service check-in. They expect speed, control, and low friction. Generative AI is evolving into Agentic AI - autonomous systems that can anticipate traveler needs, rebook flights and hotels in real-time, optimize itineraries based on changing schedules, and negotiate hotel rates within corporate travel policies. This evolution will offer business travelers a seamless, highly personalized journey with minimal manual input, allowing them to concentrate on productivity rather than logistics. 

It's therefore unsurprising that AI is a key topic and area for investment at Amadeus to deliver seamless, efficient, and personalized shopping and booking experience.

• Sustainability is emerging 

9% of all travelers - and 13% of business travelers - say sustainability, including carbon offsetting options, influences their hotel choice. Leading hotel distribution players are investing and forming partnerships to give visibility to environmentally conscious travelers. At Amadeus we are providing CO₂ emission data on our platform to support our customers in meeting their sustainability objectives. 

• Emerging markets will power the next growth wave 

Travel demand is shifting east. In China and India, over 70% of respondents expect their finances to improve in the next year - compared to just 45% in the US. The surging middle class is projected to reach 38% by 2031 and 60% by 2047. Amadeus is strengthening regional and global connectivity to ensure travel sellers can meet this new demand with broad access to quality content. 

These trends are already shaping how Amadeus Hotels evolves - from richer content to intelligent tools and flexible APIs. Our goal is to help our partners anticipate demand, personalize offers, and deliver booking experiences that keep travelers coming back. 

We are excited to partner with many different players from hotels to travel sellers around the globe or other IT players who help us to complement our offering and accelerate innovation. One strategic key partner for us is Microsoft and we are happy to focus with them on AI Innovations. For example, we’ve already fully integrated our Cytric corporate booking tool into Microsoft Teams, allowing business travelers to avoid switching applications and booking hotels directly within their workflow, making it easier to align with colleagues and partners on where to meet. 

Events such as ConX play a crucial role in unifying the fragmented travel industry and driving innovation and growth. These gatherings attract leaders and key players, including partners, travel providers, and travel sellers, creating a collaborative environment.

With a mix of presentations, workshops, and interactive sessions, participants gain valuable insights from diverse perspectives. These events also offer excellent opportunities to network with regional and global audiences, fostering connections with new and existing contacts.

Engaging in such events is highly beneficial. At Amadeus, we have strengthened our network through these gatherings, and I would highly recommend any player in this ecosystem to join and tap into the opportunities for networking and joint innovation. By sharing experiences, information, and ideas, and staying informed about the latest travel trends and developments, we can collectively drive growth and innovation in the industry.