The travel industry is all in on AI. Gone are the days of one-size-fits-all travel packages. Today, artificial intelligence is helping travelers plan bespoke experiences catered to their specific tastes.
The power of personalization
According to a McKinsey study, personalized product recommendations and triggered communications have big returns: boosting revenue by up to 15% and the efficiency of marketing spend by up to 30%, while reducing customer acquisition costs by up to 50%.
Travelers, for their part, want to get personal. The 2023 Traveler report by Hilton found that 86% of travelers expect to get personalized offers based on their travel history and preferences. Forbes found that 38% of consumer respondents aim to use AI for travel planning. And businesses are listening: the report noted that more than half of global respondents plan to incorporate solutions that make travel easier and frictionless.
The role of chatbots
To address this demand for a more personalized travel experience, businesses are increasingly turning to AI, with chatbots at the forefront.
Say you’re planning a vacation. You would open a chatbot, answer a few questions — activities you like, your preferred climate, your budget —and the chatbot would suggest a personal, customized itinerary.
Platforms like KAYAK and Skyscanner are already using AI to recommend flight deals, accommodations and activities tailored to the traveler’s interests.
Conversational AI
Conversational AI goes beyond basic chatbots. Using Natural Language Processing (NLP), these systems can understand complex queries and provide detailed, context-aware responses.
The technology is especially useful at handling customer support for travel, where customers often have specific and sometimes intricate requests. Such AI-powered assistants can book flights, reserve hotels, even schedule activities.
Need to change your flight? A chatbot can offer alternatives and help you rebook. This not only saves you time and trouble, it also frees up human agents to handle more complicated customer issues.
The chatbots offer 24/7 support and are there when you need them, no matter the time zone or destination.
GOL Airlines
One company that reimagined their customer service with an AI chatbot is Brazil’s GOL Airlines. With around 2.5 million travelers asking questions through their website each month, they were facing pressure on their call center and needed a solution.
With Inbenta’s help, they implemented an AI-powered chatbot to automate responses to common queries. Their chatbot, Gal, handles approximately a third of all customer queries autonomously, with a retention rate of 85%. GOL also integrated Gal into WhatsApp. The result: 35% of customers check-in through the app, and 90% rate the service as very good or excellent.
With customers seeking more personal, bespoke travel experiences, AI is rushing in to meet the demand. And as the technology evolves, planning a vacation will soon be as individual as the person taking the trip.
