Priceline's 2026 State of Summer Travel Report reveals Americans are cutting back on nearly everything to fund summer holidays despite rising costs. The survey of 2,500 US adults found 79% plan to take at least one trip this summer, even though 44% say such a vacation feels out of reach. Eighty-four percent of Americans report paying more and getting less for travel, whilst 55% find it less affordable than last year. Over one-third have already cut everyday expenses to fund trips, with 83% of adults willing to give up alcohol before vacation. Parents and millennials face the most pressure, with 28% of millennials planning to spend $5,000 or more this summer. Sixty-nine percent regret past cost-cutting decisions, whilst half plan to use AI tools to find better deals.

Priceline has launched an enhanced version of Penny, its AI travel assistant, now powered by Anthropic's Claude. The agentic system allows travellers to move from trip planning to booking within a single conversation, handling complex requests like comparing flights across multiple destinations. The experience features an interactive map that updates during conversations, along with personalised recommendations called Penny's Pick and Penny's Take. Built on Priceline's proprietary AI stack, the system integrates Claude for conversational reasoning, whilst Google Cloud and OpenAI support search and voice capabilities. Penny connects to real-time inventory from thousands of partners across over 100 countries. Early testing shows travellers using Penny demonstrate higher conversion rates and save approximately ten minutes per trip compared to those calling customer support. The service now supports multiple languages.