Mr. Xu Chi, General Manager of the Hotel Selection Commerce Department at Meituan, and Mr. Gao Shang, Technical Lead of Meituan Travel, have been confirmed as guest speakers at the 2026 TravelDaily Summit.

Mr. Xu Chi currently serves as the General Manager of the Hotel Selection Commerce Department at Meituan, overseeing the upscale hotel and chain business for Meituan's hotel and homestay segment. He is the core operator driving Meituan's upscale hotel supply and chain brand partnerships. On September 22, Mr. Xu Chi will join the roundtable discussion titled "When the Logic of Travel Search and Booking Changes, How Should Customer Acquisition and Growth Proceed?" at the Main Forum of the TravelDaily Summit, sharing frontline insights with travel industry professionals on how the growth logic for travel enterprises is shifting from "buying traffic and selling inventory" to "managing the full customer lifecycle."

Previously, the growth logic for travel companies could be summed up in a single phrase: buy traffic, sell inventory. Users would first open an OTA platform to search, compare prices, and place orders, while platforms and hotels competed over who had more exposure and who offered lower rates. In 2026, AI is loosening the grip of "hard-to-access information": traffic remains important, but it is no longer sufficient. What truly sets companies apart is whether hotels can solidify product strength, service strength, and marketing strength.

Now that the growth logic for travel enterprises has changed, what really needs to shift is not the advertising budget, but the way hotel brands exist on platforms: from being searched to being selected by AI and amplified by word-of-mouth. Mr. Xu Chi is uniquely positioned to observe changes in both the user decision-making journey and merchant operating methods. This dual perspective is the rarest observational vantage point for this roundtable discussion. This conversation is a must-attend for every hotel and travel enterprise manager who is rethinking traffic and user operations.

Mr. Gao Shang, currently the Technical Lead of Meituan Travel, is responsible for building Meituan's travel and hotel technology framework. As an AI Builder for the travel and hotel sector, he leads the development of the hotel and travel Agents matrix and drives the implementation of an "AI-friendly organization" within Meituan. Hotel operations have long relied on the experiential judgment of general managers and senior staff, but experience is difficult to replicate and scale. When hotel operations transition from "experience-based judgment" to "AI-driven decision-making," the true efficiency revolution lies not in how powerful the model is, but in enabling hotels without data scientists to leverage data-driven operational capabilities.

With deep technical expertise spanning multiple industries and domains, Mr. Gao Shang is a key driver in transforming Meituan's AI capabilities from generic models into practical tools for the travel and hotel industry. His focus is not on how many people AI can replace, but on how AI can turn accumulated experience into reusable, iterative, and scalable decision-making models. On September 23, at the Sub-Forum of the Accommodation Industry Summit, Mr. Gao Shang will take the stage for his keynote titled "From Experience-Based Judgment to AI Decision-Making: The Efficiency Revolution in Hotel Operations," sharing frontline practices from Meituan Travel's technology framework and AI Agents with travel and hotel professionals on how AI empowers merchants' efficiency transformation. This session is a must for every hotel manager focused on AI implementation and operational efficiency improvement. We look forward to your presence!

The 2026 TravelDaily Summit has been held successfully for 18 consecutive sessions since 2008, establishing itself as one of the most influential industry exchange events in the global tourism sector. The 2026 TravelDaily Summit will take place on September 22-23 at the Shanghai International Convention Center.

September 22: Main Forum - TravelDaily Summit
September 23: Sub-Forum - Accommodation Industry Summit
September 23: Sub-Forum - Business Travel Digitalization Summit
September 22-23: Exhibition - Business Travel & Digital Travel Expo

This year's summit will maximize TravelDaily's content potential and industry insight, bringing together 100+ travel industry leaders including CEOs from top companies, industry analysts, and hands-on project operators to explore shifts in travel consumption demand across key segments such as the new generation, business travelers, silver-generation groups, inbound tourists, and lower-tier market consumers, as well as innovations and changes in product, marketing, and operational models driven by new demand.

As of now, the TravelDaily Summit has invited multiple "top-tier experts" capable of shaping the 2026 travel industry to share at the event:

If you want to learn and network on-site: The 2026 TravelDaily Summit has brought in 100+ "top-tier experts" from leading companies to share insights, offering perspectives on the latest business opportunities in the travel industry from different roles, dimensions, and operational experiences. Over two days, three forums, nearly 100 industry leaders, and 30+ core topics, every session delivers a high-density strategic review, and every interaction is a direct opportunity to connect with the industry's top minds.

If you want to acquire customers precisely on-site:
Summit scale: 1,800+ mid-to-senior management from travel companies;
Direct access to decision-makers: 70% of attendees hold director-level positions or above and have business decision-making authority.

For any questions regarding registration, ticket benefits, event schedule, attendee directory, or other activity details, feel free to contact TravelDaily academic coordinator Momo—we are online to answer at any time.