Inside Agoda’s AI Bet: Building Silicon Valley in Bangkok

Sep 2, 2025

In this engaging conversation, Omri Morgenshtern, CEO of Agoda, shares insights on transforming Bangkok into a thriving tech hub, likening it to 'Silicon Valley in Bangkok.' He discusses Agoda's significant focus on artificial intelligence, revealing its potential to enhance engineering and customer service. Morgenshtern highlights the balance of global expertise and local talent in building a robust workforce. Additionally, he addresses the current limitations of generative AI, which, while promising, is still evolving in the travel sector.

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INSIGHT

AI Changed Agoda’s Trajectory

Omri Morgenshtern says generative AI dramatically reshaped Agoda's tech focus since he became CEO.
He calls the current period a peak for tech and AI but expects future peaks too.

ANECDOTE

Building Silicon Valley In Bangkok

Agoda built a 50/50 model pairing senior expat engineers with top local graduates in Bangkok.
Morgenshtern calls it "Silicon Valley in Bangkok" and credits it for growing local tech talent and startups.

INSIGHT

AI Boosts Velocity, Not Magic Productivity

AI writes significant amounts of code but enterprise safety and legacy systems require human review.
Morgenshtern warns AI gains velocity but not yet 5x–10x developer productivity in enterprise contexts.

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Throughout the summer, Skift CEO Rafat Ali has been sitting down with travel leaders around the world for wide-ranging conversations about real estate, artificial intelligence, emerging destinations, independent hotels, and more.

For the last episode in this series, Ali sits down with Agoda CEO Omri Morgenshtern to talk about the evolution of Agoda over the last 20 years, with a particular focus on technology, artificial intelligence, and talent strategy.

Morgenshtern discusses Agoda’s role within Booking Holdings, the company’s growth in Asia, and how it’s turning Bangkok into a tech hub by importing global talent and cultivating local engineers.

The discussion dives deep into the real-world applications and limitations of generative AI – especially in enterprise settings – and how Agoda is integrating it across engineering, customer service, and product development.

Presented by ⁠⁠⁠⁠EF World Journeys⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Takeaways

1. Agoda Is Betting Big on AI—But Real Impact Takes Time: While generative AI has changed how engineers work, Morgenshtern says it’s not yet delivering the 5X or 10X productivity promised. Its true power lies in accelerating velocity and enabling new product features.

2. Bangkok as a Tech Hub Is No Accident: Agoda’s 50/50 model—pairing experienced global engineers with top local graduates—has transformed the Thai capital into what Morgenshtern calls “Silicon Valley in Bangkok.”

3. Customer Support Is the First Real AI Win: From translation to tone-matching to faster case resolution, generative AI is already improving customer experience and agent efficiency at scale.

4. Fintech Is the Next Loyalty Layer: Morgenshtern sees Agoda’s future in providing financial services to both consumers and partners, turning travel companies into banks and loyalty programs into financial ecosystems.

5. Vietnam’s Strategy Is a Tourism Case Study: While many markets are growing, Vietnam stands out for its deliberate, long-term approach to tourism development—including air routes, visa policy, and infrastructure investment.

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