Priceline Bets Big on AI: How Penny, Their OpenAI-Powered Chatbot, is Revolutionizing Travel

I agree that we’re witnessing the rise of a new, AI-driven interface to the internet, which will expand but not entirely replace today’s web interface. GAI chatbots are the first step, worrying Google about the future of its profitable search engine. Despite some comically inept responses from its new Generative Search Experience, it will be a better way to handle many daily inquiries once the kinks are worked out. Similar offerings from OpenAI and others will provide more GAI query options. Today, we can type requests into chatbots and receive responses in text, images, and sound.

To achieve that we have integrated our own payment solutions, as well as the solutions from third parties, with our backbone IT infrastructure. The recovery is not homogeneous because there are some markets like India that are booming whilst others, such as Japan, are evolving at a slower path because international travel recovery is lagging a bit. The good thing is that all markets are growing and the trend is stable and has solid fundamentals. That is the construct we are using to build the next, deeper phase of our relationship with you, indeed the next phase of Skift eleven years in, to graduate you from a Skift reader to a Skift user. We are using AI to build the next, deeper phase of our relationship with you – indeed the next phase of Skift 11 years in – to graduate you from a Skift reader to a Skift user.

Will AI Become the New UI in Travel?

One of the key reasons why Penny stands out in the crowded field of AI-powered chatbots is its ability to personalize recommendations based on user data. Priceline’s vast customer data platform allows Penny to pull from past interactions to provide more relevant suggestions. Whether recommending ChatGPT App a beachfront hotel or highlighting nearby restaurants, Penny’s personalized approach aims to make every interaction feel tailored to the individual. “Penny doesn’t just answer questions; she learns from each interaction, making her smarter and more helpful over time,” Keller noted.

Keller also mentioned that AI integration is likely to expand beyond customer-facing roles into broader organizational functions, helping companies streamline internal processes. For example, he noted that AI tools are already improving internal productivity by assisting Priceline’s engineering teams. “AI has helped us accelerate time-to-market for new features, allowing us to develop and deploy code more efficiently,” he explained. This increased efficiency not only enhances the customer experience but also enables Priceline to stay nimble and competitive in a fast-moving digital landscape. ChatGPT and other generative AI chatbots are transforming much of the business world — and the travel industry is no different.

• Saudi Arabia is also the most booked destination for travelling from the region this summer, up by 79 percent compared to pre-pandemic.
• Plus, I think people also enjoy new challenges and coming up with new things.
• So, in terms of valuation, I’m not going to try and make a guess about whether it is a bubble or not.
• We have not done as much of that as I would like; we’ll do more of that in the future, I think.
• Like when we came out of the pandemic, there was that revenge travel surge, which is fantastic.

But AI is driving a shift towards conversational search methods, and tour operator TUI is trying to stay ahead of the curve. Many travelers are excited about chatbots entering the tourism industry. One Florida mom planned her family’s entire summer vacation using a chatbot to save time. However, NLP expert and Entri founder Chaim Heber said in a Forbes article the travel industry is behind in integrating AI with tourism. Google’s new chatbot could simplify travel planning for people around the world. During the Google I/O 2023 conference in May, the tech giant announced it would soon add extensions to Bard.

The chatbot then presents results that include links for booking flights, hotels, and more, and saves that itinerary for the user to revisit later. The integration of generative AI into the platform has led to one of the most impressive final products in this early stage of the tech, certainly more useful than anything released so far by the large online travel agencies. Exactly one year since it went public, Mondee has released an updated version of its travel booking platform to include a mobile app and a generative AI chatbot.

Once a trip is booked through the app or website, a user can then send a voice or text message to request travel adjustments, such as cancellations. Some companies have been providing automated crisis messaging services to travel companies for many years and are now responding to distraught organizations looking to ditch manual ways of contacting travelers. 15below claims 20 years of experience in notifying travelers in times of crisis.

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End-to-end digital integration aimed at smoothing out the travel process is something many airlines are eyeing for in the long-term. The lessons learned from the COVID-19 crisis will undoubtedly speed up the development of chatbots, machine learning and other technologies that will serve as the foundation of the future. Trip.com, the Singapore-based online travel agency, this week released an updated yet limited version of a chatbot it originally released in February. While the first version was little more than a ChatGPT plugin, the newest version has photos of itinerary suggestions and links for booking. A mobile app, online shopping cart, and easier group travel booking are highlights in a world of outdated tech for travel agents.

But some of the latest releases show a clearer picture of how travel search and booking will look. Through that connection, the user can ask the chatbot to find a flight that matches certain requirements. It responds with flight options, and the user can complete the booking within the same Microsoft 365 Chat platform. If a coworker had already shared an itinerary via email, the user can also ask the chatbot to find a flight that matches that itinerary, as was outlined in the announcement video.

Already, AI-driven searches are shifting towards a more conversational approach, departing from traditional destination and date inputs. To stay relevant, hoteliers should optimize their websites and marketing strategies to align with this natural, ChatGPT conversational content, enhancing visibility in voice search results and attracting targeted organic traffic. AI can even help align a hotel’s marketing strategy with these new search characteristics by optimizing keyword research.

Q&A: How AI is impacting the travel experience

There are probably a lot of 65-year-olds who actually can do their job fine and that their health is perfect and fine. It just seems strange to me, and that’s a rule that’s not good. You don’t pay for API access, but what’s interesting about your case is you say, “Yes, that was the first… that was the jury’s decision.” Fortunately, we’re not done yet. We’ll be appealing this, so it’s not over until it’s over on that one. One of the other interesting parts of the comparison to Google is where the results come from. Right now, I think a lot of people are reevaluating the deal Google gets, which is to index all the websites and then show the results, and then AI has made it so that Google might read the results for you.

Keller acknowledged that although each new iteration of OpenAI’s technology helps reduce overall costs, the sheer volume of interactions handled by Penny necessitates ongoing investment. “AI development is not a one-time effort; it requires sustained investment, but we are confident the long-term benefits will far outweigh the costs,” Keller said. This optimism is based on the assumption that the efficiency and customer satisfaction improvements brought by Penny will enhance Priceline’s bottom line, especially as the chatbot’s features expand. Despite the exciting potential of Penny and AI integration, Priceline faces notable challenges, particularly in refining Penny’s ability to handle the wide array of nuanced customer queries. While the chatbot supports over 120 languages, ensuring seamless interaction across various dialects and accents remains an ongoing development priority. “We are continuously refining Penny’s ability to adapt to different speech patterns and contexts,” Keller noted, highlighting the immense complexity involved in perfecting natural language processing for a global audience.

Romie can offer customized itineraries and adjust to changes driven by weather or other disruptions, according to Expedia’s May 14 announcement. The product is starting with an alpha, or test, version on its EG Labs website for experimental products. According to Hay, the resort has grown its online presence dramatically since the switch, resulting in a 70% increase in direct online bookings in the first year. Avvio claims to have helped Auchrannie Resort, a 4-star luxury resort in the Isle of Arran, Scotland, to increase direct online bookings. Upon  The resort’s Business Development Manager, Gordon Hay, decided to switch to Avvio in 2017. Speaking from personal experience, I have on numerous occasions found it infuriating when dealing with automated telephone systems that don’t quite answer your very specific query or need, and you end up in an endless automated loop.

I think that travel retailing is changing for the good by incorporating some of the capabilities and processes that have been normal in other sectors since years. Better understand the business of travel with Skift’s new AI chatbot. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. A recent study by Klook called TravelPulse revealed that experiences have become the new currency for the next generation of travellers, with 85% of millennials and Gen Z willing to invest in unique experiences. Contact me here.I founded ETA, a global advisory firm to help startups, governments, and corporations accelerate emerging technology innovation.

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And I’m like, “Well, do you feel that you don’t have another way to travel? So, we have to follow the rules, and we are following the rules, and we are doing all the things necessary for that. But I do see on principle, it’s unfortunately going to something that I’ve said several times.

Hotel revenue managers can easily obtain information on average daily rates, room nights, and revenue pipelines, streamlining the entire process and eliminating the need for manual data searches. The travel team at Microsoft in September launched a live integration between Amadeus’ Cytric booking and expense platform and the Microsoft 365 suite of tools for its U.S.-based travelers. Meier said the offshore service team also utilizes the bot’s natural language processing and emotion detection to help generate appropriate responses to inquiries. “Previously, we had some struggles with ambiguous questions and, at times, inconsistent responses, causing our service center to go back to the onshore team and ask” for clarifications, Meier said.

And watch out for errors, as the bots are liable to make up entire towns for the foreseeable future—and sound confident at every misstep. If travelers do come to rely more on generative AI chatbots, there is also concern about what could be lost if the voices of experts and locals become less central. But how well could generative AI hold up against, say, the contextual knowledge of a skilled trip planner?

One use of AI in travel and beyond is real-time translations that can make understanding a different language much easier. Whether written or verbal, AI can translate any language into another without manually inputting any text. Translation apps — such as Google Translate — can also use augmented reality (AR) to help translate text. When a device’s camera is pointed to a block of text, trained AI can quickly translate the words into the user’s desired language. One of the most frustrating parts of traveling to a new country can be trying to understand another language in real time — especially when navigating a new area. Only 29% of American travelers learn basic phrases in a country’s native language before visiting, according to a survey from Promova.

Earlier this year, FlightHub and JustFly made waves with their automated solution to the influx of customers seeking travel refunds. They created a hotline that could process the majority of requests without having to speak to an agent, at some points handling over 200 refunds per hour. From established online travel agencies to the latest travel startups, we have the latest news on everything in online travel. The Tripadvisor itinerary planner — not a chatbot — released last week isn’t wildly different from some of the tools we’ve already seen. And because it’s available on the web only, it’s not as convenient. Some generative AI tools for travel booking are getting more impressive, and some are not.

The survey polled over 1,200 professionals who had taken at least one business trip in the last year. While the overall group of respondents took an average of 6.8 business trips in 2015, millennials took an average of 7.4. Those in Gen X and baby boomers took an average of 6.4 and 6.3 business trips respectively. When it comes to travel industry chatbots, a few key themes arise, which may correlate with an industry shift to millennial audiences. The company’s CTO, Henry Shi, previously served as a software engineer at Google, where he assisted in the launch of Youtube’s Music Insights. The feature aggregates viewing information from all videos that the artist has uploaded, as well as videos from their profile that have been copied and reuploaded by fans.

In the increasingly complex world of post-pandemic business travel, some travel buyers are looking to chatbots to simplify processes and communicate directly with travelers. Saeed mentioned that the startup pushes people toward using Layla’s own app on Instagram after a few conversation exchanges. In the app, people can create different lists, share them with friends, and have different chats with Layla about various chatbot for travel industry trips. Plus, the app allows them to show videos, ticket prices and hotel options in a richer way. Users can chat with Layla on Instagram about destinations, their temperatures, the best time to go and things to do, along with flight and hotel options. The bot also surfaces videos of different destinations from the creators (fetched from the Beautiful Destinations network) to give you an alternative view of a place.

Now, we have the benefit of diversification, and since one area may not be doing as well as in other areas, you get a benefit when the other areas are doing better. Well, Kayak actually being very different, being a meta

, they actually go across all… A better example would be Priceline, Agoda, and Booking and making sure that we are concentrating on the areas you want to concentrate. What we don’t want to do is have somebody try and take business away from another brand and end up in a case where all we’re doing is giving away money to somebody else because, say, we’re overpaying for marketing, let’s say, in an area. You mentioned the idea that you’re going to help people with all of their travel needs, basically, wherever they are. There’s a lot happening in travel that I want to talk about, but I’m curious about the big picture. This episode is pure Decoder bait all the way through — from Booking’s structure to competition with hotels and airlines increasingly going direct to consumer, even to how European regulation affects competition with Google.

It doesn’t appear on their homepage, instead appearing only on pages specifically discussing the kinds of AI software they can help companies build. LogMeIn’s Head of AI is the former co-founder of nanoRep, which became Bold360. He doesn’t seem to list any data science or machine learning experience prior to becoming the Head of AI at the company, however, and he does not list any academic experience on his LinkedIn profile.

It can single out typical searches and provide the right recommendations to the right users. For example, Expedia, one of the world’s leading online travel agencies, has launched a bot for Facebook Messenger to help travelers pick a suitable hotel option and move forward with a booking. By simply typing @Expedia in the field for conversations, you can get started with the bot and use its guidance to pick a suitable hotel option for a particular city and date. Not that it works flawlessly — you may need to answer the same question a few times in a row — but at the end of the day, the bot helps with trip booking and management. With generative AI, travel companies will be able to provide unique, personalized trips based on chatbot conversations like the answers you provide to a travel agent. Before this breakthrough, the online chatbot interface simply tried to answer basic queries.

Saudi Arabia’s Almosafer is piloting the integration of artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, on its mobile booking platforms. The country’s first travel company to test the integration of ChatGPT, Almosafer believes this will enhance the booking experience by providing more tailored responses to customer queries. Almosafer is testing a voice search function powered by ChatGPT and will enable customers to search for the best flight options in both English and Arabic by simply recording their flight search requests.

As I say, I hope a lot of people in the US — I think a lot of people in the US — know about Booking.com, and throughout the world. The only places where we would have trouble filling your travel needs would be places that we’re not allowed to operate because of either US or EU Law. Among the benefits of applying Gen AI is its ability to collect insights to speed up complex data analysis and generate strategic business decisions.

CEO at Travelpayouts, one of the largest affiliate marketing networks focused on the travel market. EY, meanwhile, is developing a ChatGPT-solution which will enhance the travel experience of its employees by providing “much more relevant information at their fingertips”. While Toyota’s Jeffries is “really excited” to see how generative AI might evolve, she said she would rely on her TMC to deploy such a tool rather than build it internally. Mann said Qurious is working with enterprise clients to build bespoke workflows for travel programs, where systems are engineered to preserve privacy. The proprietary bot, which was built internally as a closed system, currently receives data via a SFTP—secure file transfer protocol—feed from the company’s expense tool, Concur, and then automates targeted messages via email.