Golden Week OTAs vs AI assistants: Tongcheng and Fliggy sell inventory while Doubao and Qwen sell answers

During China's National Day Golden Week, AI travel entry points became a battleground between traditional OTAs and AI assistants. Doubao launched a dedicated travel hub (“出行用豆包”) with four modules—maps, transport, hotels, and dining/entertainment—and hotel bookings via Doubao rose over 56% week-over-week; Fliggy's AI assistant saw interactions up 158% and flight-hotel bookings up 110%, while Meituan's AI管家 “小团” searches rose 29% and Tongcheng's DeepTrip agent saw travel queries jump 50%+ in the first four days. The piece frames this as “LLM+” versus “+LLM” strategies, arguing the decisive factor will be fulfillment and supply-chain capability rather than conversational entry points.