Expedia Fall 2026 Release Adds an AI Activity Planner, Hotel Answers From Reviews and Pay-Later Vrbo Stays

Expedia Group put out more than 30 new and updated features on October 28, spread across Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo. Most of them are small. Taken together they show where the big booking sites think the money is now: keeping you inside their app after you've paid, and answering the questions you used to email the hotel about.

Several of the AI tools are US-only for now, on the web and in the apps.

Planning and booking on Expedia

The headline tool is Activity Planner. Once a trip is booked, you chat with it about what you like, and it suggests activities, restaurants and events. You can book them, save them or drop them into your itinerary. It's US-only to start.

Property Expert answers questions about a hotel before or after you book. Is the Wi-Fi good in every room, is there parking, how far is the beach. The answers come from the property's own details, guest reviews and your reservation. You tap an "Ask" button on the hotel page.

Two practical changes are less flashy and probably more useful. Multi-room booking lets you pick different room types at the same hotel and pay once, so a family no longer needs two separate bookings. Packages got looser too: fly into one city, stay in another, and add a hotel or car only for the nights you need it. There's also a family map showing playgrounds, beaches and restaurants around each property.

One Key Gold and Platinum members get lounge access or OneKeyCash when a flight booked through Expedia is delayed 90 minutes or more, whatever the airline, for flights booked by the end of 2027.

Hotels.com and Vrbo

Hotels.com's AI Compare takes the places on your shortlist and lays them side by side in plain language: location, amenities, price, cancellation rules. You can ask follow-up questions. The homepage now changes depending on whether you booked a work trip or a holiday, with shortcuts to extend a stay or pull receipts for expenses.

Vrbo gets natural language search, so you can type "four bedrooms near the water, pets allowed" instead of clicking filters. The arrival page now holds check-in times, door codes, directions and house rules in one place, which matters more as countries push back on self check-in (Italy has already banned key boxes). An AI voice agent handles routine support calls and passes you to a person, with the call notes, when it can't help.

The one with the most money attached is Reserve Now, Pay Later on Vrbo. You put a card on file and reserve eligible homes with nothing due at booking. Expedia says it's coming soon, with no date.

What it means for you

The AI pieces are helpful when they work and easy to ignore when they don't. Treat Property Expert's answers like a review summary: a good start, worth checking with the hotel on anything that decides the trip.

Pay-later rentals are the bigger shift. They make it easy to hold a house for a big group while everyone makes up their mind. Read the cancellation terms before you reserve, because "nothing due today" isn't the same as "free to cancel".