Amex GBT launches Claude AI connector for bookings

Amex GBT has launched an Egencia AI connector in Claude for business travel bookings, positioning it among the first travel industry agent-to-agent integrations for policy-compliant air and hotel transactions.

The connector lets travellers and enterprise AI agents search, book and manage air and hotel travel within Claude, using the traveller's own credentials and applying company travel policy throughout the process.

At the centre of the system is Amex GBT's agent-to-agent architecture, described as an agentic thinking layer. It interprets a traveller's request, breaks it into separate tasks and routes them to specialist agents for flight shopping, hotel search and booking.

The layer is already live in Egencia AI, with tool call sequencing accuracy of more than 80% and average end-to-end response times of less than 25 seconds for multi-step workflows.

The move reflects a broader push to shift workplace AI tools beyond information retrieval into transaction handling, particularly in areas such as travel, where company policy, traveller profiles and corporate agreements must be observed.

Research commissioned by Amex GBT from Forrester found strong interest in AI for business travel, alongside persistent concerns about control. The study surveyed more than 500 enterprise IT decision-makers and 2,000 business travellers.

According to the findings, 92% of decision-makers believe AI will transform business travel into an optimised system, while 78% cited governance and auditability as major barriers to approving autonomous AI. The research also found that 90% of decision-makers were satisfied with their organisation's travel technology ecosystem, but only 3% said their travel technology stack was fully integrated into enterprise workflow.

Among travellers, 24% described their experience as seamless and low effort. The survey found that 82% believe AI could simplify their lives, and 79% said they trust AI assistance.

How it works

The Claude integration uses Model Context Protocol to connect Claude to Amex GBT's systems. Through that connection, Claude can call Egencia AI as a tool and take actions on a traveller's behalf rather than simply returning travel information.

That distinction matters because most current AI travel integrations focus on surfacing options or answering questions. Amex GBT is instead targeting complete transactions for managed corporate travel, including booking and ongoing trip management within an existing enterprise AI environment.

One global technology business is already working with Amex GBT on a virtual travel concierge that combines booking with calendar and communications data. The aim is to provide proactive travel suggestions and booking support directed by the traveller.

Broader rollout

Amex GBT is also extending its conversational AI tools into other workplace software used by corporate customers. Egencia AI is being expanded into Google Chat, while Neo customers are taking part in a pilot for a conversational travel assistant in Microsoft Teams.

These tools are designed to let travellers and travel arrangers search, book and manage trips through natural language conversations without leaving the collaboration platforms they already use. In Google Chat, travellers will also have the option to connect directly with a travel counsellor.

Its infrastructure is also being extended to other enterprise AI platforms, including Salesforce Einstein. That suggests Amex GBT is seeking to position its travel booking and management systems as embedded tools within broader workplace AI systems rather than as standalone travel applications.

"The conversation in our industry is shifting from connecting systems to connecting intelligence - from APIs to AI agents that can reason, act and transact with trust," said Evan Konwiser, Chief Product & Strategy Officer at Amex GBT.

"With our Egencia AI connector in Claude, an employee or an enterprise AI agent can now search, book and manage air and hotel for a traveller within policy, personalised, and backed by our marketplace, while benefiting from being wholly within their existing Claude enterprise environment. That's true agent-to-agent integration for managed travel. It's a foundational capability, and we're just getting started," Konwiser said.

Amex GBT said the system feeds results directly into reporting and works within a company's configured policies and traveller profiles. That addresses one of the central challenges in business use of AI agents, where companies need a clear record of how automated decisions and actions are made.

John Sturino, Senior Vice President of Product & Engineering at Amex GBT, said the company wants its travel intelligence to be available across different customer setups and channels.

"No matter what solution you're on, Amex GBT intelligence is available to you. Business travel has a lot of moving parts, and just giving someone access to content still puts the burden on them to figure it out. Our goal is to deliver the best experience and outcome, not just the best options, whether you're a traveller or an AI agent acting on their behalf," Sturino said.

"That's what keeps employees focused on their jobs instead of managing their travel, and that consistency across channels is what sets us apart."