Retailers
Independent and mid-market retailers with a direct checkout.
Benchmark
The Retail and Travel Agent Readiness Benchmark 2026.
Twenty retailers and 20 travel businesses, the same 50 checks, and the failures that keep agents from buying. The first edition is in progress.
Travel businesses
Independent hotels, DMCs and experience operators with a direct booking engine.
Checks per business
The same six-layer audit used in a paid engagement, scored 0 to 100.
First edition
Publishing in the first quarter of 2027, with the method and the anonymized scores.
What it measures
What an agent can actually do.
Not a survey of intent. A test of the live purchase path, from reading the product or property to confirming the sale.
| Layer | What the benchmark tests |
|---|---|
| Represent | Whether products or rooms, prices and policies are readable by a machine. |
| Reach | Whether verified agents can reach the site and the purchase path. |
| Act | Whether an agent can quote, add to cart or book, modify and cancel. |
| Pay | Whether an agent can pay with a token, and whether the risk rules accept it. |
| Fulfill | Whether confirmation, inventory and cancellation or return hold up. |
| Prove | Whether the business can see agent traffic, revenue and failures. |
Method
How the sample is built.
- Independent or mid-market retailers and travel businesses.
- US markets first, with a mix of city and resort destinations.
- Evidence from public pages and test purchases or bookings, not self-reported surveys.
- Anonymized scores. Businesses can opt in to be named.
- The same 50 checks as a paid audit, run in the same order.
The benchmark is independent. Businesses cannot pay to be included or to change a score.
Why publish it
The agent channel is new, and most businesses have no baseline. A public benchmark gives the market a shared definition of readiness and shows which failures are common.
It also gives every business in the sample a reason to look at its own score.
Take part
Nominate a business or get the report.
If you run a retailer, hotel or travel business, or work with one, nominate it for the sample. If you want the benchmark when it publishes, leave your email.
Nominations are free. Being in the sample does not commit you to a paid engagement.
While it is in progress
Get your own score now.
The free teardown gives you a score, three findings and one quick win. It is the same method, on your business.