A 20-person team in downtown Seattle is building an AI-powered travel agent backed by up to $100 million from Booking Holdings.

The startup, called Vayo (pronounced VAY-oh), opened a waitlist for its free private beta on Wednesday, Oct. 14, as first reported by GeekWire.

The company pitches itself as a personal travel agent "built for trips, not tasks."

Vayo CEO Mike Fridgen is a Seattle startup veteran. He previously ran Madrona Venture Labs, the local startup studio, and was CEO of Decide.com, the price-prediction company acquired by eBay.

Before that, he was on the founding team of Expedia's vacation-package business, led Alaska Airlines' digital business and co-founded travel startup TripHub.

Fridgen said the team aims to build "the leading consumer experience in travel — nothing less."

Co-founder and CTO Allen Chen, formerly CTO of Fanatics Collectibles and a partner in Boston Consulting Group's AI practice, co-founded two Seattle software startups, CloudPress and DataBlade.

Head of growth Ian Fliflet was chief growth officer at OfferUp.

The product connects to a user's email inbox, pulls in flight, hotel and restaurant confirmations, then monitors those bookings for price drops and schedule changes.

If a flight is delayed, Vayo flags the ripple effect on hotel check-ins or dinner reservations. Users can already make restaurant reservations through OpenTable inside the app.

Flight and hotel booking are expected in the coming weeks.

Booking Holdings, parent of Booking.com, Priceline, Kayak and OpenTable, said the planned $100 million investment is "subject to continued advancement of the product and market conditions," according to a footnote in its news release. Fridgen said the team will share in the value Vayo creates, though he did not disclose the ownership structure.

The launch marks Booking Holdings' return to the Seattle area. The company closed its Bellevue office in 2020, cutting 235 jobs during the pandemic travel collapse. Now it is setting up shop across the lake in downtown Seattle, home turf of its biggest rival, Expedia Group.

Vayo follows Lola, another Booking Holdings AI startup, which Kayak co-founders Steve Hafner and Paul English launched Sept. 29, as reported by Skift. Fridgen described the two ventures as a portfolio approach, with Vayo going "mile-deep in travel scenarios."

The launch arrives as AI companies reshape Seattle's office market. AI firms leased more than 292,000 square feet of Puget Sound office space in 2026, according to The Seattle Times. OpenAI expanded to 12 floors in a Bellevue tower, and Anthropic is eyeing space in South Lake Union.

Meanwhile, Expedia is moving in the opposite direction. The Seattle-based travel giant filed a WARN notice in September to lay off 58 Washington employees at its Interbay campus, citing AI-driven restructuring.

Vayo is free during the beta. Fridgen said the company has not settled on a long-term business model.

A subscription is one possibility. Fliflet noted that travel also generates traditional commission revenue from bookings.