Meta is moving to monetize its influence on travel planning through its new AI assistant, Muse. During the company’s third-quarter earnings call on Wednesday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg identified travel as one of the top use cases for the agent. He stated that the company is actively working on business models to capture value from these interactions, potentially taking a percentage of the transactions facilitated by the technology.
Zuckerberg told analysts that the goal is to integrate the assistant directly into commerce across the Meta family of apps. The vision involves users planning trips and completing bookings within the ecosystem, allowing Meta to capture a share of the economic value it helps create. This strategy marks a shift from passive content discovery to active transaction facilitation.
Muse Adoption and User Engagement
The AI agent launched roughly six weeks ago and has already attracted more than 10 million users in the United States and Canada. Usage data indicates strong engagement, with approximately 25 percent of users interacting with Muse daily. The platform has also shown significant commercial potential, as more than a quarter of weekly active users engage in shopping activities.
Current metrics show that the average purchase value for these transactions exceeds $200. Travel bookings contribute to this figure, though specific revenue splits have not been disclosed. The agent is currently accessible through WhatsApp, with plans to expand to Meta’s AI glasses in the near future. However, it has not yet been rolled out to the full base of 3.64 billion daily active users across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.
Expedia and Cloudbeds Join the Ecosystem
To support this commerce vision, Meta has secured partnerships with major travel suppliers. Expedia Group has agreed to bring hotel bookings to Muse, allowing users to search and reserve rooms directly through the AI interface. Duffel has joined the effort to facilitate flight bookings, expanding the range of services available to users.
Cloudbeds, a hospitality technology company, announced an integration that connects Muse to live hotel rates and availability. The system is designed to route reservations through the hotels’ own booking engines rather than Meta’s infrastructure. Cloudbeds CEO Adam Harris described this approach as a way to prevent another intermediary from owning the guest relationship. The U.S. rollout for this integration is scheduled for the first quarter of 2027.
The economics of the platform remain undefined as the product matures. Zuckerberg proposed a model where businesses pay for transactions facilitated by consumer AI agents. This approach would require a new layer of payment infrastructure within the Meta ecosystem, distinct from current advertising or affiliate models. The company aims to implement these monetization strategies faster than its typical development cycle.
Source: Skift
