How AI is transforming the travel industry

I'm here on vacation in Hawaii and I used AI to help plan my trip. AI is playing the role of travel agent with a range of new tools using the cutting edge technology to offer customized recommendations. Before I left, I logged into Mindtrip AI, which uses AI to suggest itineraries and activities based on your profile and preferences, aggregating ratings and reviews from Google, along with TripAdvisor and Priceline, which users can book through. You can ask for recommendations, add plans to your trip, read reviews, and share your bookings with friends and family. And when I was there, it was helpful to pull up addresses and find restaurants nearby. If you use ChatGPT today, you still probably have to go and Google everything. You still have to go and you'll look at all the different places that it recommends and actually do all the work you have to do before. What we're trying to do is make that so that that all happens like a travel agent would have done, you know, 20 years ago. Do all that work for you and use the AI to actually take all the effort out of out of that. It's not just startups we're seeing the travel giants invest in generative AI tools as well. The two biggest booking platforms both introduced AI powered chatbot assistance. Expedia's is called Rami and Priceline's is named Penny. Airbnb brought an AI startup back in November called Game Planner. CEO Brian Chesky says generative AI will radically change the platform and that he wants to use it as a travel concierge that learns about users over time and enhances their experiences. Google is also moving into this space. The end result is a personalized vacation plan presented in Gemini's new dynamic UI, recently announcing that it's Gemini chatbot can research flight times and offer hotel booking options to create a custom multi day vacation itinerary in a matter of seconds. We haven't yet seen these new digital tools impact travel agent jobs. As recently as December, a record 47% of travelers surveyed say they still use travel agents. We're seeing AI tools customized for different use cases, whether it's planning a road trip or creating a customized travel itinerary for people traveling with their dogs. But the next generation of tools, they will be able to give you specific information or recommendations based on exactly where you are standing. And that will be like having a customized tour guide in your pocket. Kelly, this would be amazing. I basically I hate traveling because I hate having to figure out the itinerary and then go book everything and these websites. And then you like, so can, can the AI not only say, Hey, here's a go, a cool thing to do, but also kind of go ahead and, and literally buy and arrange all of that for you. Yes, some of this you can buy through these different platforms. Obviously, if you're looking at Airbnb or Expedia, the fact that they are incorporating these chat bots that's designed to make the whole travel booking process more conversational easier. You can ask it a question it can answer for you and then you can book through that platform. Now for mytrip dot AI, which is the platform that I used, you could book hotel and the like through the platform, but I had already booked all my my, you know, my housing and also my flight. So I wasn't looking to book any anything through these platforms. I just wanted to figure out where to go, what restaurants to go to and what hikes to go take with my kids. No, you're 'cause you're on the ball. Whereas I would be like, here's what I wanna do and do all of it, please. And, and also on the cheap, you know, not too expensive. So Carl raised an interesting point this morning, Julia, about privacy. Will people start to go, wait a minute, do I really want to kind of type in my exact location and family details and all the rest of it? Look, we are already sharing so much information through our phones. There are so much information about where you are that's being captured by so many different apps. In this case, they want people to opt in and say, hey, I'm gonna get value out of sharing my information. I'm gonna get specific customized recommendations based on where I am. And it seems like people are really willing to trade privacy for all the value that comes from customized, you know, benefits. What's the name of it? Again, People know where you are. So the one I used was called Mytrip dot AI. But Expedia and booking an Airbnb, they are all also investing in AI and offering their own AI tools. Could I ask it if I said, I don't know where to go? I need a place that had, you know, quirky or yeah, could I just say, what are your recommendations? So you can say, this is how many kids I have. This is my budget. I want to go somewhere this time of year. I don't want it to be that hot. And they'll give you recommendations. All right, we're going to see. Julia. Thank you so much. Thanks. Great assignment, Julia Borsten.