Opening & Welcome at ITB Berlin 2026 Orange Stage 03/04/2026
Summary
This is the opening and welcome segment for Day 2 of the ITB Berlin Convention 2026, hosted by moderators Katie Gallus and Lea Jordan on the Orange Stage. The hosts open with enthusiastic crowd engagement, noting a full house in Berlin with additional virtual attendees joining online. Lea Jordan describes the overall scale of the convention: 4 stages, 17 tracks, and 400+ speakers, underlining the breadth of programming available to attendees.
The hosts outline a packed Day 2 agenda for the ITB Marketing and Distribution Track. The morning session includes 7 high-impact sessions featuring prominent speakers from major travel and technology companies: Skift, Google, AOR (Carell Lamush), Airbnb, Muse, Rategain, HomeToGo, and Booking.com. The day kicks off with a keynote by Sarah Copit, Editor-in-Chief at Skift, who will set the scene for the day and field audience questions via Slido — noted as a new interactive feature for the Marketing and Distribution Track.
Google will present on the era of agentic AI, covering how search, discovery, and advertising are evolving in an assistive AI environment. Carell Lamush from AOR will address hospitality at scale in one of Europe's most competitive hospitality markets. Airbnb's Katherine Anzel will join Lea Jordan to discuss balanced tourism and platform responsibility, followed by Jesse Stein, Airbnb's Global Head of Real Estate, discussing Airbnb's growing focus on hotels. A panel on "AI and the Power Map of Travel" will feature Muse, Rategain, and HomeToGo examining where power and influence are shifting in the industry. Daniel Marowitz, Head of Fintech at Booking.com, will close the morning by explaining why payments are critical to achieving the vision of the seamless trip.
The afternoon program focuses on content creators and marketing. Jennifer Andre from Expedia Group will present research on how travelers respond to AI-generated content. YouTube will take the stage in what is teased as an energetic session featuring beatboxing, followed by TUI and Deutsche sharing best practices in social search and creator-driven inspiration in travel. TikTok's Adam Zaren will discuss how TikTok is evolving from an inspiration channel to an actual distribution channel in travel. The day closes with the Travel Tech Startup Session, featuring industry veterans sharing sentiment on where funding is and isn't flowing, followed by 4 live startup pitches receiving real-time feedback on stage.
Key Takeaways
- •ITB Berlin Convention 2026 is operating at significant scale: 4 stages, 17 tracks, and 400+ speakers. Day 2 alone features 11+ sessions across morning and afternoon blocks on the Marketing and Distribution Track, reflecting the density and ambition of the event's programming.
- •Sarah Copit, Editor-in-Chief at Skift, delivers the Day 2 morning keynote and is described as 'setting the scene for the day to come.' Her session is notably interactive — audience questions via Slido are a new feature for the Marketing and Distribution Track, signaling a shift toward more participatory conference formats.
- •Google's session focuses on the era of agentic AI, exploring how search, discovery, and advertising are changing in what Lea Jordan describes as an 'assistive AI environment.' This positions AI agency — not just AI assistance — as the defining lens through which travel marketing is being re-examined.
- •Airbnb is sending two separate speakers to the event, covering distinct strategic themes: Katherine Anzel addresses balanced tourism and platform responsibility, while Global Head of Real Estate Jesse Stein speaks specifically to why Airbnb is 'focusing so much on hotels these days' — a topic Lea Jordan flags as something 'we're all curious to hear.'
- •Daniel Marowitz, Head of Fintech at Booking.com, will argue that payments are critical infrastructure for achieving 'the vision of the seamless trip' — framing fintech not as a back-office function but as a core enabler of the travel experience.
- •TikTok's Adam Zaren is presenting on TikTok's evolution 'from an inspiration channel to an actual distribution channel in travel,' marking a significant strategic shift in how the platform is positioning itself within the travel industry funnel.
- •Expedia Group's Jennifer Andre will share findings from their latest research on how travelers respond to AI-generated content and what marketers should consider — offering one of the few data-grounded sessions on AI content performance in travel.
- The afternoon closes with a Travel Tech Startup Session where industry veterans share funding sentiment — 'where money is moving, where funding is actually given and where not' — followed by 4 live startup pitches with real-time feedback, described as expecting 'bold ideas and tough love.'
Transcript
Welcome everybody for our second day of ITV. Can I hear you please? ITB 2026, WHERE ARE YOU? WONDERFUL. As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, joining us online, we have a full house here in Berlin. So, greetings from Berlin to the world to you. It's great to have you and it's my big pleasure to be here on stage with the ONE AND ONLY LEO JORDAN. >> HI EVERYONE. [applause] A warm welcome. A very warm welcome and thank you for being here. I know you I know you're spoiled for choices, right? I'm rep...
