ADAPT

ADAPT is an open alliance of accommodation providers, technology builders, and industry stakeholders working to establish direct distribution protocols for the age of AI agents.

For 25 years, hotels have paid 15–25% of every booking to OTA intermediaries while losing ownership of their guest relationships. AI agents are now the fastest-growing distribution channel — and they don't need OTAs. They need open protocols.

ADAPT exists to define, promote, and maintain those protocols: MCP servers for real-time inventory discovery, CLI tools for developer access, REST APIs for universal integration, and agentic markdown for zero-infrastructure discoverability.

ADAPT is structured as an Unincorporated Non-Profit Association (UNA) — the simplest legal form for an open industry alliance. There are no membership fees, no gatekeepers, and no corporate sponsors with veto power.

Any interested stakeholder can participate: independent hoteliers, multi-unit operators, PMS vendors, channel managers, AI agent developers, payment processors, and travelers who believe in a more open, direct distribution ecosystem.

ADAPT was founded in 2026 in Memphis, Tennessee by Sardor Umarov, the owner-operator of The Exchange Building — a 200+ unit, 19-floor mixed-use property in Downtown Memphis.

OTAs deserve genuine credit — they democratized travel booking, brought millions of small properties online, and solved discovery at a time when the industry had no answer for it. That contribution is real and lasting. What's happening now isn't a rejection of that work; it's a natural expansion. AI agents are emerging as a new distribution channel, and for the first time, hotels can also distribute through open protocols that connect them directly to travelers and enable programmable settlement — transparent, automated payment flows without manual reconciliation. The hotel has the inventory. The AI agent has the traveler. Open protocols connect them directly. Programmable settlement routes the payment. OTAs remain one channel among many; the difference is that hotels now have choices they didn't have before.

ADAPT is the alliance that facilitates agentic commerce distribution for the accommodation industry — maintaining the open protocols, developer tools, and research that make direct connectivity practical. The alliance's deep dive research traces the complete history of hotel distribution from GDS terminals to AI agents, documenting how each generation of technology expanded what was possible and created new ways for properties to reach guests.