Meta launches Muse, a general‑purpose personal AI agent set to impact travel

In‑chat travel booking with payments

Meta has unveiled Muse, a personal artificial intelligence agent that can organise, book and pay for travel on a user’s behalf. Integrated into a dedicated Muse app and WhatsApp, the agent can manage end‑to‑end reservations for transport and accommodation. 

It opens a browser, fills in forms, progresses tasks in the background and seeks the user’s approval before any email is sent or a purchase is confirmed. The aim is to turn a travel intention into an executable plan without changing interface. 

The launch is rolling out in the United States on iOS, Android and the web, with a free model supplemented by subscriptions, and is currently limited to users aged 18 and over.

To operate, Muse relies on Muse Secure VM, a dedicated virtual machine that isolates the agent and a user’s data. A separate Sentinel agent validates sensitive actions and blocks any unauthorised outbound traffic to the internet. 

For payments, Muse uses Link, Stripe’s checkout solution, with purchase protections and single‑use cards; Shop Pay is slated to follow, and integration with 1Password will allow people to use existing credentials without exposing them. 

Meta says Muse continues working even when the app is closed and returns to the user for decisions or to confirm a purchase. All permissions are granular and revocable, with a detailed activity log. The safeguards are intended to build the trust needed to delegate search and booking to an agent.

With this launch, Meta joins a broader shift towards conversational agents capable of pursuing complex goals. 

In travel, where planning involves comparisons, back‑and‑forth and confirmations, the idea is that a user states a need in natural language, the agent proposes options, reshapes the itinerary if required and completes the basket, always subject to approval.

Weeks earlier, Google formally integrated hotel booking into AI Mode, its conversational search layer. Partners including Expedia, Booking.com, Hilton, Hotels.com, IHG, Marriott, Choice Hotels, Priceline, Trip.com and Wyndham already allow booking and payment there, for now in the US. 

Search engines and messengers are racing to internalise the journey through to payment. As early as March 2025, Visito, again with Stripe, turned WhatsApp into a payment channel for hotels, foreshadowing frictionless in‑chat purchasing.

For online travel agencies and hoteliers, the point of contact is shifting to these interfaces, raising challenges around visibility, conversion and access to conversational context data. 

For tourism brands, the task now is to reach these new demand channels while retaining control of the customer relationship when the conversation happens in WhatsApp or on Gemini.

While this integration may suit platforms such as Meta or Google, travellers are not yet entirely ready to entrust payment to an AI. 

A recent Travelport study estimated that for 72% of consumers, the final stage of booking, when handled by an AI, creates stress and anxiety.

The company also announced Muse Confidential VM, encrypted with a key held by the user, due later in the year. In time, the agent will be available on AI glasses.