AI, it’s the only way to plan travel.
A survey of US travellers has found more than one third — 36% —said they are likely to use AI to research or plan travel within the next 12 months.
The survey was conducted by travel publisher Matador Network, which recently launched the personal AI travel assistant GuideGeek. Matador Network CEO Ross Borden noted, “Instead of spending hours trying to find what you’re looking for, you can tell GuideGeek your budget, preferences, and interests and the AI provides recommendations that match your specific needs.”
The survey also found that 31% of travellers find researching and planning vacations “time-consuming and cumbersome”. Travel influencer Aaron Barnes must be one of them. He recently arrived at the airport and let GuideGeek choose his destination.
“I used to rely on Google or TikTok to find answers to my questions or give me recommendations but had generally been disappointed by the responses and the time I had to spend doing research,” Barnes said. Matador’s Borden added, “Most travellers are currently using GuideGeek as a replacement for or supplement to online research.
But there is a set of users already shifting how they approach travel planning altogether by asking the AI open-ended questions such as, ‘I love beaches, spicy food, music and cocktails. Where should I go?’
“I think we’re only seeing the very beginning of how AI will reshape travel planning for the better.”
To support that view, B2B tech provider Travel Compositor has launched ‘AI Trips’, claimed to be the world’s first AI-powered booking engine to generate a 100% bookable complete package, including in-destination experiences, in a single flow from the inspiration search to payment.
The European B2B technology company for retail travel agents and tour operators, part of the holding company Travel Soft, said ‘AI Trips’ starts with a single inspirational question from the user such as “I want to take a trip on Route 66 between Chicago and Los Angeles”.
From there the system will propose suggestions, take users through choices / selections, and reserve the desired trip including flights and hotel plus in-destination experiences or services like car rental.
The tool is based on artificial intelligence, automatic learning, exclusive processes of transformation of text into travel proposals and a dozen different flows during the reservation depending on the chosen trip. The platform uses 12 different technologies, and has been developed by experts in AI, UX and travel.
“Not only do we save time and effort for professionals and travellers themselves, but we will also provide them with personalised experiences that adapt to their preferences and budget,” said Manuel Aragonés, CEO of Travel Compositor.
From mid-July AI Trips will be available to all Travel Compositor’s B2B customers – including retail travel agents, tour operators and online travel sellers – who subscribe to the service for a to be confirmed monthly amount in the hundreds of euros and contains hundreds of XML connections of more than 12 different categories of tourism, travel and leisure products.
Forget the airport cab: Here’s comes the Rome rocket.
Forget the long taxi ride into the city. Don’t bother about the cramped airport bus or the rail link into town. A new era of airport to city transport is taking off with a partnership between IT provider SITA and UrbanV, the Italian vertiport operator, which will see a digital-first passenger experience for UrbanV’s vertiports in Rome.
Both parties will design, test, and refine a new passenger processing and operating ecosystem to support the first flight between Fiumicino airport and Rome’s city centre in 2024. SITA will deploy its expertise in air transport for the emerging Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) industry, developing new operating standards and a digital-first passenger experience.
Globally, UrbanV envisions vertiports being interoperable by multiple eVTOL operators and integrated within the local aviation ecosystem.
The unsexy side of the travel industry
Speaking during a panel discussion at Phocuswright Europe in Barcelona, Roberto Da Re from Travel Ledger – a B2B billing and settlement company had this to say when asked why, historically, it has been so hard to get travel industry professionals to talk about B2B payments.
“No one came into the travel industry to talk about payments, and we get that. They joined because of their passion for travel. And when it comes to B2B payments that’s even more unsexy, if that were possible. But everyone wants to get paid, right? Certainly, in my experience more and more are thinking ‘how can we make this less painful’ anyway.”
Overall, the panel agreed that the biggest drag on payments systems in travel are antiquated legacy payment systems, often dependent on old-fashioned bank transfers.
Try before you fly with Qatar Airways
Qatar Airways has introduced new QVerse environments allowing users to digitally navigate their travel arrangements prior to entering an airport.
Passengers can immerse themselves in a journey with the MetaHuman cabin crew ‘Sama’ – named after ‘sky’ in Arabic – through QR’s various First Class check-in counters, Premium Lounges, and Business and Economy Class cabins. The online experience has been augmented to include the new Business Class Suite and Economy Class in the Boeing 787-9; and the Qsuite and Economy Class in the Airbus A350-1000.
Passengers can also explore the Al Safwa First Class Lounge and the Al Mourjan Business Class lounge at Hamad International Airport.
