OpenAI has taken a major step toward reshaping how consumers interact with digital services by opening ChatGPT to third-party app submissions from outside developers. The move allows companies to build and list their own apps directly inside ChatGPT, placing them alongside early partners such as Booking.com and Expedia.
For the travel industry, this change signals a new phase of competition over who controls the conversation at the moment travelers search, plan, and make decisions.
The newly launched Apps SDK, currently in beta, enables developers to create chat-native experiences designed specifically for conversational use. Instead of redirecting users to external websites or requiring downloads, these apps live directly within ChatGPT.
Once connected, users can access them across devices without repeated setup, creating a seamless experience that blends discovery, personalization, and action in a single interface. Approved apps are listed in a dedicated App Directory, functioning much like an app store but without the friction of traditional installations.
For travel brands, the implications are significant. Early integrations gave major platforms a head start in embedding their services into AI-driven conversations, allowing users to search for hotels, flights, or destinations without leaving ChatGPT. By opening submissions more broadly, OpenAI has lowered the barrier to entry, inviting airlines, hotel groups, tour operators, loyalty platforms, and even smaller startups to compete for visibility and relevance within the same conversational space.
This democratization introduces both opportunity and pressure, as brands must now differentiate not through interface design, but through how intelligently they respond to user intent.
The shift also changes how travel planning may unfold. Rather than browsing multiple sites or apps, users can interact conversationally, refining preferences in real time and receiving contextual responses that feel more personal than traditional search results.
Apps built inside ChatGPT can combine data, recommendations, and booking actions into a single flow, potentially shortening the customer journey while increasing expectations for speed and accuracy. Brands that fail to adapt risk becoming invisible at the earliest stage of decision-making.
At the same time, OpenAI’s review process suggests that quality, safety, and relevance will play a role in determining which apps gain access. This introduces a new layer of platform governance, where compliance and performance may influence discoverability. As more developers join the ecosystem, competition will likely intensify, pushing brands to invest in better data integration, clearer value propositions, and more conversationally fluent experiences.
Ultimately, opening ChatGPT to third-party apps positions the platform as more than a chatbot. It becomes a marketplace of services embedded directly within dialogue, where travel brands compete not for clicks, but for trust and conversational dominance.
As AI-driven interfaces continue to evolve, the ability to participate meaningfully in these conversations may become as critical as maintaining a website or mobile app once was.