The Miles Ahead Summit by Mastercard is an immersive half day travel and loyalty summit, providing exclusive insights on the macroeconomic outlook, changing consumer behaviors and traveler consumer engagement trends from Mastercard’s economists, data scientists, and security experts.
For the 2026 edition, Miles Ahead will dive into the future of Agentic Commerce. In a world where AI is rapidly transforming the commerce landscape, agents are not only limited to recommending travel itineraries via chatbots – they are also able to act on a user’s behalf to make bookings and transactions. Our Mastercard economists will weigh in on the impact that this development will have on the travel industry, as well as on the overall economic outlook. Consumer loyalty specialists will reveal results from proprietary research into consumer attitudes towards AI and Agentic Commerce, while Mastercard’s AI and Agentic experts will highlight the opportunities and risks that may arise. They will also discuss steps companies need to take in order to prepare for an Agentic future, including how to ensure ecosystem readiness and ensure bookings and transactions remain secure.
Scope & Deliverables
The Miles Ahead Summit is an immersive half-day travel summit, providing exclusive insights on the macroeconomic outlook, changing consumer behaviors and traveler consumer engagement trends from Mastercard’s economists, data scientists and security experts, from which Client can gain both actionable insight and inspiration. Client’s employees will gain forward-looking insights, practical strategies, and the opportunity to network with peers across the industry.
Client has been invited to and has decided to participate in Miles Ahead Summit by Mastercard (the “Event”), a half day in-person workshop accessible by invitation only. There is no limitation on the number of participants to this event. Client will advise Mastercard by email the names of the participating employee prior to the Event.
The location and date for the Miles Ahead Summit is noted below.
Miami – April 21, 2026
Event Agenda:
- Travel Landscape: The 2026 Outlook and Forecast – Mastercard’s Lead Economist for North America, Nick Bunker, will share expectations for economic outlook and macroeconomic factors impacting travel, including the strength of the economy and changing destination preferences.
- Today’s Traveler: Mindset, Motivation & AI Adoption – Proprietary insights into changing consumer behavior in the age of AI, and how it impacts bookings, consumer engagement & loyalty, and cobrand usage.
- The Agentic Customer Journey: Today’s Booking Flow – How Agentic Commerce has impacted the consumer’s journey from discovery through post-booking engagement. Discussions will include changes to the booking flow and channel mix, and how travel companies can implement best practices while considering friction points for consumers leveraging loyalty and preferences.
- Agentic Technology & Ecosystem Readiness – How can travel companies ensure that they will appear in consumer agentic interactions, and how to build digital platforms for on-site agentic commerce. This includes how companies can modernize inventory, offers, and payments, and the need for tokenization, credentialing, and standards in this new environment.
- Security, Identity, and Trust in Agentic Travel – Agentic Commerce necessitates the evolution of security and authentication processes in order to prevent fraud. Discussions will detail how corporations can secure their ecosystems in a high fraud and chargeback environment.
- Networking Social – Opportunity for networking and interactions with travel industry peers and Mastercard’s subject matter experts.
Mastercard reserves the right, at its sole discretion, to adjust the agenda and speaker lineup based on availability and evolving market trends. A recording of the webinar will be made available for those that are unable to attend live, which cannot be shared externally or commercially utilized.
Client acknowledges that this Event will include exposure to third parties, some of whom may be competitors of Client, and that (i) it shall not engage in any anticompetitive behaviour or activity in violation of antitrust regulations and that no confidential or commercially sensitive information will be shared directly or indirectly with competitors, and (ii) Mastercard makes no guarantees regarding, and is not liable for, confidentiality obligations of any third party. For avoidance of doubt, and notwithstanding anything else to the contrary hereunder, no specific and confidential information from any financial institution, rewards program manager, other alliances or coalition will be used for the understanding of practices in the market.
Photo and Video Release: Participants need to be informed that photographs and videos may be taken during the program. These materials may be used for promotional and marketing purposes. This includes use in brochures, social media, websites, and other public media. The participant waives any right to compensation and allows to edit and use the materials indefinitely unless revoked in writing.
Agentic Experience Assessment
Clients who register for the program will also receive an Agentic Assessment (“Assessment”), which will be delivered by the end of year. A comprehensive 360° evaluation of the Client’s current customer experience, delivered in 2026. This assessment comprises two phases, designed to identify strengths and opportunities, and provide insights to enhance Agentic commerce. The scope of the Assessment is detailed below:
Phase 1: Agentic Visibility Assessment
The Visibility Assessment outlines how travel products and experiences appear across leading AI browsers and agentic tools, identifying gaps in availability, accuracy, and framing, and sharing insights to strengthen AI led discovery and visibility, areas of review include:
- AI platform decisioning review: Review of leading AI platforms’ handling and presentation of information related to the client’s travel offerings.
- Category and query coverage mapping: Overview of the presence of core travel offerings across common discovery, planning, and comparison contexts.
- Sentiment and interpretability: Assessment of AI responses describing and framing the client’s brand and offerings.
- Citation and source attribution analysis: Review of where and how AI platforms reference sources when representing the client.
Part 2: Agentic Commerce Experience Review
An evaluation of the Client’s current “agentic” profile, focusing on customer experience across leading AI browsers and tools. Key deliverables include:
- Assessment of product visibility and experience across AI search engines and agentic tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Perplexity)
- Benchmark against industry-specific criteria and best-in-class examples (where available) to inform future decision-making
Term and Termination
The Term shall commence on the date the Program Overview and Terms and Conditions are accepted by the Client (“Effective Date”) and shall continue until December 31st, 2026.
Fees
Based upon the scope of Services described herein, the Fees will total USD $250,000.00 (the “Fees”), which includes administrative and other out-of-pocket expenses (“Other Costs”) associated with the participation of Client employees.
Mastercard and Client are parties to one or many Customer Business Agreements or other Acceptance Agreements, as amended from time to time (the “CBA” or “AA”, as applicable). To strengthen the relationship between the Parties and further drive utilization of cards and the Mastercard brand described in the CBA or AA (as applicable), Mastercard will contribute USD $250,000 to implement and support Services described in this Schedule.
Client shall be responsible for any travel and accommodation expense associated with the Event.
Mastercard reserves the right to postpone or amend the Event and inclusions, plans, speakers and location in the event Mastercard determines that the Event would be unsafe or inappropriate under the circumstances, or as otherwise needed due to forces outside of our control. Mastercard will inform attendees of any potential changes with as much notice as reasonably possible.
The information contained in this Schedule is confidential to Mastercard and its disclosure is subject to the confidentiality provisions as set out in the Agreement.
Notwithstanding this, the terms of this Enrollment Form and the Terms and Conditions solely govern the provision of the Services by Mastercard, and not the Incentive Agreement.
Please review the Terms and Conditions and then complete the Enrollment Form. Upon submission of the Enrollment Form, you will receive additional details.
Proceed to Accept Terms and Request Access