Nina, described as a robot that empowers business travellers and a virtual travel agent, was the winner at the recent IATA NDC Hackathon in Berlin.
She was developed and delivered by Caravelo, a Barcelona based travel technology company, as a white-label travel concierge service.
The hackathon was the latest IATA initiative to promote the innovative New Distribution Capability (NDC) Standard and challenged the 100 developers to change the world of business travel and “take air retailing to the next level”.
TMCs can benefit from Nina’s seamless delivery of services. (Image credit: vuadeep/iStock)
Nina, which you can add to your mobile contact list, is able to interact with travellers through messenger platforms, such as Slack and Facebook, and deliver travel solutions that fit both your company travel policy and personal preferences.
According to Caravelo the service is, in essence, a chatbot that humanises the purchase experience making it relevant for the end user and compliant with company policy.
“We believe that chatbot technology will revolutionise the way that travellers interact with providers,” said Iñaki Uriz, Caravelo CEO.
“Traditional travel management companies (TMCs) have a vital role to play in managing corporate travel. By utilising innovative technologies they can scale up their communication capabilities very quickly to the standards travellers will soon expect.”
Uriz added that Nina could help TMCs leverage existing messenger platforms such as Slack, wechat, and Telegram to communicate in real time with their clients to offer personalised and relevant travel options.
By applying next generation distribution standards this virtual agent also enriches and customises content delivered to travellers to ensure decisions are informed, from airline fare conditions to available ancillaries.
Uriz believes Nina can perform these tasks efficiently and seamlessly, as “being judged as the most viable solution amongst a very strong field of over 100 developers speaks positively for the product and the company”.
Caravelo will present Nina at the IATA Business Travel Summit in Geneva on June 22-23rd June.
