When booking your next holiday trip the first thing you do is probably take out your laptop or phone and go online. You are not the only one: In 2018, 82 percent of all global travel bookings took place online without any human interaction (Deane, 2022). Over the past decade, the travel industry has changed immensely mainly driven by the embracement of digital technologies. Online bookings are only one example, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has also orchestrated its way into the travel industry.
Diving further into the concept of AI, the ultimate objective of the usage of this technology in the travel industry has to do with enhancing the consumer experience in planning trips and booking accommodations in order to deliver the best offerings to the travel searcher within just a couple of seconds. (Koksal, 2020). Planning an unforgettable trip is often difficult and particularly time-consuming mainly due to the unlimited possible options, but AI can simplify our lives by providing search results based on own specific interests.
Consider for example the widely known travel-related company Airbnb. Airbnb is using AI and machine learning in order to tailor its search results to individual customers. Once a customer searches for a particular location on Airbnb, the algorithm personalizes the results by providing them with the most relevant listings based on your personal interests (Koksal, 2020). The personalization here comes from the fact that the search results are based on previous interactions. Say that you have been looking for accommodations with a swimming pool in the past, it is very likely that the algorithm returns listings with a pool included. The algorithm goes even further than just providing you with accommodation, it also returns activities that can be found at the searched locations based on your interests. Besides, Airbnb’s search engine is accompanied by natural language processing which enables open-text search for “a beach house in Italy for honeymoon” (Hammerkopf, 2018).
Another big player in the market is Booking.com which has also widely implemented AI within its business model. When you open the Booking.com website, the personalization already starts: destination recommendations and pictures are shown to you based on personal preferences (Verdict, 2019). This is only the beginning as the personalization process at Booking.com goes much further. Once you are searching for a location, the search algorithm will customize the formation of every listing based on what the algorithm thinks will make you most likely to actually make the reservation. Everything ranging from a listing’s rating to the pictures shown is personalized.
All in all, the implementation of AI within the travel industry has made it easier for us to plan unforgettable trips. Algorithms help us to return what we like just within a couple of seconds which saves us a lot of time. I am very happy that travel companies are using this technology since every minute that can be saved is very precious as a university student…
References
Deane, S. (2022). Over 60 Online Travel Booking Statistics (2022). Stratos Jet Charters, Inc. https://www.stratosjets.com/blog/online-travel-statistics/
Hammerkopf, T. (2018). How Airbnb, Booking and Trivago use Artificial Intelligence. Hammerkopf. https://www.hammerkopf.com/single-post/2018/09/02/how-airbnb-booking-and-trivago-use-artificial-intelligence
Koksal, I. (2020). How Travel Apps Are Using AI To Personalize The Experience. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/ilkerkoksal/2020/04/04/how-travel-apps-are-using-ai-to-personalize-the-experience/?sh=1c2ea6cf2167
Verdict (2019).The Bespoke Customer Experience: How Booking.com is Using AI to Make Travel Personal. Verdict-AI. https://verdict-ai.nridigital.com/verdict_ai_aug18/the_bespoke_customer_experience_how_booking_com_is_using_ai_to_make_travel_personal
Hi, thank you for sharing these interesting thoughts. I wonder to what extent are the choices of the AI for us what we could thoroughly enjoy the most or find more suitable. For now it looks like we are heading towards to a direction where AI will be able to make better choices for us and we could just trust these algorithms blindly. How do you think this will affect our life? you may argue it will save time of our busy days, but are there any drawbacks and how dangerous could they be?
Interesting topic and well written! I am curious to know your opinion on this subject. Do you think the implementation of AI in the travel industry has more value for the consumer or for a company like Airbnb or Booking.com? Because the consumer has more convenience during the booking process and the company can increase its sales and usability with AI technologies.
First of all, thanks for your insights! I agree that the use of AI in the travel industry has many advantages. The presence of sites such as Airbnb and Booking.com makes it possible to easily compare all providers by yourself. Indeed, AI even makes it easier and I think that these personal recommendations can help the consumer make the right choice faster and can therefore be of added value. On the other hand, I think we should be wary of the example you gave of Booking.com adapting the formulation of listings for each consumer so that you are more likely to buy it. I think it is good to be aware of this as a consumer, as I can imagine that it can influence how objectively you view an offer and therefore you no longer purely factually determine whether you think it is a good offer. If you are not aware of this personalization in formulation, you may be more likely to fall for an offer that you would not have gone for without a catchy wording. But overall, certainly an efficient application of AI!