It’s official: we’re living in an endless episode of a dystopian TV show Black mirror. With the debut of the ‘generative AI’ platform ChatGPT in late 2022, we could get artificial intelligence to write emails, give parenting advice and even say heartfelt wedding vows. You might not yet want to believe that its capabilities match those of humans, but at the recent AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park in November, King Charles addressed a room full of tech titans and world leaders by saying that artificial intelligence is “no less was more important than the discovery of electricity, the splitting of the atom, the creation of the world wide web or even the harnessing of fire.”
As a travel journalist and trend forecaster, I’ve been experimenting with how ‘Gen AI’ tools like ChatGPT and Google’s Bard can be used in my work, and report on interesting applications of the technology to make planning and booking trips easier. I even challenged myself to write this article: “Have you ever been overwhelmed by the countless options when planning a trip? AI is here to simplify that. By analyzing your past travels, preferences and even your social media activities, AI-powered platforms can suggest destinations, hotels and activities that suit your personal tastes. Imagine logging into an app and instantly finding a list of destinations you’re sure to love, complete with boutique hotels, cute cafes and hidden gems,” ChatGPT writes within seconds.
It adds: “The rise of AI-powered chatbots means you have a travel assistant in your pocket, ready to answer your questions at any time. These virtual assistants are becoming increasingly sophisticated, offering real-time assistance with booking flights, suggesting local experiences and even offering language assistance. No more waiting on hold for customer service; direct support is just a chat conversation. AI is also revolutionizing the way we find the best travel deals. With dynamic pricing, AI algorithms analyze market trends to offer competitive prices for flights and accommodation. This means you can get a great deal on that luxury resort or find a great value flight to your dream destination – all thanks to the smart pricing strategies enabled by AI.”
What do we humans think about this? Will robots take over? According to an Oliver Wyman survey of 1,100 vacationers in the US and Canada who had used Gen AI for trip planning, inspiration or booking, 84% were “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the quality of the recommendations. Another recent Expedia survey of 20,000 respondents found that nearly 40% of people would likely use Gen AI for tasks like researching hotels, comparing flights, and getting ideas for activities. However, maybe we’re in the early stages of a new relationship, and things start to go downhill once we get jaded…
Rafat Ali, co-founder of US travel media and intelligence company Skift, says that Gen AI “hasn’t set the world on fire” from a consumer perspective after the initial hype from a consumer perspective, but that there are “lots of opportunities on the horizon”. Ali says this “could mark the end of the ‘tyranny of the search box’ that has existed since the first internet booking sites emerged in the mid-1990s”. He says: “Generative AI is already changing the way you search – whether it’s a text chatbot or voice commands or a photo or video upload that makes you say, ‘What is this place?’ or “Find me a place that’s like this.” All that is now possible, so the way we look for travel becomes a lot more informal and you could say inspiring because it is not so structured.”
Henry Coutinho-Mason, trend forecaster and author of The future normal, agrees: “Gen AI will mean that planning a trip will become more like a conversation, rather than today’s drop-down search filters, especially as voice input becomes common. But it will also transform the travel experience in more subtle, but equally welcome, ways. During the journey, real-time translation ensures seamless communication; AI will step in and automatically navigate the bureaucracy in the event of canceled flights or lost luggage; after the trip it will automatically create movies, similar to Apple’s Memories or Google’s Photo Stack today, but much more intelligent – adding animations, soundtracks, voice-overs and cinematic effects.
Travel search engine Kayak has been an early adopter of ChatGPT, connecting it to the Best Time to Travel tool – a service that provides recommendations on the best month to travel, prioritizing a combination of predictive flight prices, weather , and crowd considerations, based on internal and external data. Matthias Keller, chief scientist and senior vice president of technology at travel search engine Kayak, said: “We train and use AI to help predict price trends, surface the most relevant content from millions of reviews from real travelers, and help travelers get personalized recommendations. and to help identify and present the best hotel images.”
Ali concludes: “The promise of AI is that if you are a logged in user on a platform that knows your history, how you travel and what you have previously booked, matching the right kind of results seems to mean a lot. more promising. Airbnb has said that its search functionality will be completely different next year. I’m looking forward to that because this is the type of company that has the resources and the creativity to come up with something like this.”
Here are six ways Gen AI will change the way we plan, book and experience travel in 2024…
Conversational ideation
Typically, vacation planning starts with typing something like “Best Winter Sun Destinations” into Google and then clicking on various links to articles that are often behind a paywall. Gen AI is changing that with the rise of conversational ideas. Companies like Expedia and Kayak already have ChatGPT windows built into their websites, so you can chat with the bot as you would with a friend on WhatsApp. You can type a full paragraph for your briefing and go from there. You don’t have to worry about the key words and you can keep asking follow-up questions. Expedia then automatically saves hotels suggested for a special ‘trip’ in the app so you can compare and book them if you wish.
Custom routes
Putting together an itinerary can take hours of cross-referencing and planning, but Tripadvisor’s new ChatGPT integration can do it in seconds. You can enter your destination, dates, people you’re traveling with and interests, and a stream of hour-by-hour suggestions will appear for each day you’re there, complete with photos. What’s really smart is that these recommendations are made based on a database of over a billion user reviews. The itinerary can then be easily edited, saved and shared.
Composite inspiration
Many people get an initial idea of where they want to go on holiday through social media or a friend, but when it comes to deciding where to stay, things can get trickier unless you have a specific hotel in mind. Booking.com’s new ChatGPT-powered AI Trip Planner bridges the gap between inspiration and reservations, generating a visual list of properties and prices based on the parameters you want to specify (such as near the sea or in a place that’s not too far away). touristy), with deep links to view the hotels in more detail. Users can switch back and forth between their chatbot conversation and the Booking.com app interface until they make a decision. When they’re ready, a single tap completes the reservation.
Deepfake invitations
Most people associate “deepfakes” with nefarious practices such as disrupting geopolitics with fake videos of presidential speeches (this happened in 2023 when hackers used AI to create a convincing simulacrum of President Putin that was broadcast on Russian television). But what about deepfake Tom Cruise? He’s hilarious. Inspired by this widespread TikTok meme is Virgin Voyages, which has turned its official brand ambassador Jennifer Lopez into a benevolent deepfake called “Jen AI,” which will appear in a customizable video travel invitation you can send to friends or family. Just enter your name, the occasion, how you want to celebrate and where you want to sail. How can you say no to J-Lo?
Social bookings
Layla is an AI-powered startup that bridges the gap between short video content on social media and vacation bookings and features an Instagram travel planner activated by direct messaging. Co-founder Saad Saeed said in a statement: “Visual search is the future of travel for younger consumers. Our product gives users exactly what they want, in a medium they enjoy consuming and on platforms where they spend most of their time. With a few simple swipes of your finger, you can ask Layla to find Maldives-like beaches in a destination that is more affordable and not overrun with tourists. Through a few simple DM exchanges on Instagram, Layla will suggest the best flights, accommodation and activities to suit your budget and interests, along with accompanying video content.”
Virtual guides
Another innovator is Tailbox, which aims to bring together interactive maps, customized experiences, social gatherings and local knowledge in one ‘easy-to-use application’. Co-founder Bayazid Maliko said in a statement: “Imagine walking through Rome and receiving a real-time, AI-generated story about the Colosseum tailored specifically to your interest in ancient history, while someone else might get a story that focuses on architectural wonders. of the same monument. AI holds the key to unlocking them.” You might even imagine listening to the voices of long-dead heroes come to life as you walk around, say, Paris, with the late French singer Edith Piaf as your guide (after all, Warner Music Group uses AI to recreate her voice mime to narrate his upcoming film Piaf).