The travel and hospitality industry is entering a decisive inflection point. While demand continues to evolve, traveler expectations are accelerating faster than ever—reshaping how airlines, airports, hotels, cruise lines, and digital travel platforms compete and grow.
The HFS Horizons: Travel and Hospitality Service Provider Ecosystem, 2025 report highlights a fundamental shift: the industry is moving beyond incremental digital improvements toward bold, AI-powered transformation, where ecosystem collaboration, sustainability, and hyper-personalization define competitive advantage
From Digital Hygiene to Experience-First Transformation
For years, digital transformation in travel focused on efficiency—automating refunds, modernizing reservations, and stabilizing operations. In 2025, that is no longer enough.
HFS notes that enterprises are now prioritizing:
- Intent-aware and emotion-driven customer engagement
- End-to-end orchestration across front, middle, and back office
- AI embedded deeply into operations—not just pilots, but at scale
Generative AI, agentic AI, and advanced analytics are becoming the backbone of travel operations—powering everything from disruption management and crew optimization to personalized journeys and intelligent self-service.
Ecosystem Orchestration Is the New Growth Model
One of the strongest themes in this year’s Horizons study is the rise of the OneEcosystem approach.
Rather than delivering isolated services, leading providers are orchestrating entire ecosystems—connecting loyalty, distribution, operations, data, and partners to create new business models and revenue streams. This shift enables travel enterprises to move beyond selling products toward curated experiences that build long-term brand equity.
HFS identifies Horizon 3 providers as those driving this ecosystem-level value creation through collaboration, co-innovation, and scalable execution.
Sustainability Moves from Compliance to Competitive Advantage
Sustainability is no longer a side initiative. According to HFS, it is becoming a core procurement and brand decision factor.
Travelers, regulators, and enterprise buyers increasingly demand:
- Transparent carbon reporting
- Sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) initiatives
- Energy-efficient and climate-conscious operations
Leaders are embedding sustainability into digital platforms, operational decision-making, and customer experience design—making it both a responsibility and a growth lever.
Why Sutherland’s Horizon 3 Recognition Matters
Sutherland’s recognition as a Horizon 3 (Market Leader) reflects its ability to go beyond execution and optimization to drive new sources of value for travel and hospitality enterprises.
HFS highlights Sutherland’s strengths in:
- AI-first, outcome-based platforms
- Unifying customer experience and operations
- Deep domain expertise across airlines, hospitality, and travel ecosystems
- Ecosystem partnerships that enable co-creation and innovation
This recognition underscores Sutherland’s focus on helping clients navigate complexity, unlock efficiency, and deliver seamless, personalized experiences at scale.
Looking Ahead
The future of travel and hospitality will be shaped by those who can balance technology, experience, and ecosystem collaboration. As AI becomes pervasive and sustainability becomes non-negotiable, success will depend on providers that can orchestrate change—not just implement it.The HFS Horizons 2025 report makes one thing clear: the next era of travel belongs to organizations that are experience-first, AI-powered, and ecosystem-driven.
“Sutherland’s Travel & Hospitality proposition combines scaled domain operations with an explicit AI-first investment model, anchored by a dedicated Travel AI Center of Excellence and broader R&D commitment, while co-innovating with hyperscalers and research institutions to accelerate its applied AI adoption. From agentic AI capabilities that streamline email triage, intelligent case routing, conversational bookings, and end-to-end itinerary support to automation for ticket validation, refunds, disputes, and KYC/document processing, Sutherland is operationalizing AI in the workflows that materially influence CX, cost-to-serve, and revenue integrity. With a high proportion of outcome-based engagements and embedded platforms, the firm is backing its narrative with tangible results.“
– Melissa Fersht, Executive Research Leader , HFS Research
