OpenAI acquires travel startup Odessia as service shuts down
Founder Francis Davidson will join OpenAI to work on travel, while the deal coincides with a new way for companies to sell through ChatGPT.
OpenAI has bought Odessia, the travel-planning startup created by Sonder co-founder Francis Davidson, with the service closing on the day of the acquisition. Davidson announced the deal on November 10, 2026, and said he would join OpenAI to work on travel.
An OpenAI spokesperson confirmed the purchase to TechCrunch. The acquisition coincided with the introduction of Businesses in ChatGPT, which enables companies to sell through the chatbot. OpenAI’s plans for Odessia’s technology, including whether ChatGPT will handle bookings directly, remain unclear.
Odessia offered a free concierge that let customers organize travel by text message, including booking flights and hotels and arranging complete itineraries. It used GPT-5.5 and Codex from OpenAI. Its IATA accreditation enabled it to issue airline tickets and obtain private hotel rates and benefits.
The San Francisco startup was less than a year old, employed eight people and opened to the public on October 14. It raised US$6 million in June through a funding round led by Sequoia. Davidson said tens of thousands of people had used it over the summer.
Odessia’s website now says the service is unavailable. Existing OpenAI travel relationships include Booking.com and Expedia, which were among the earliest travel platforms to add apps to ChatGPT.
