AI should empower travel retailers, not replace them, says Travelport chief marketing officer Jen Catto.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a force for disruption in travel, especially when businesses are focused on creating personalised, seamless experiences. But travellers need more from AI than just a chatbot or an itinerary planner with unimpressive recommendations. I believe the real power of AI lies in what it can do on the backend, and how we can use its intelligence to power the true retailers of travel —agencies.
Travelers are discovering that, while the convenience of AI is great for quick answers, humans are critical to getting quality, white glove service. While many articles have highlighted travellers using ChatGPT to plan their trip, what often results is disappointment: vague directions, outdated activities, closed restaurant suggestions. Many of these tools are still in their early stages and may not be utilising the right data (or have enough data) to help consumers find accurate, relevant and bookable choices. But when we apply AI to the software that empowers agencies? That creates faster, more relevant results and happier customers overall.
Choice overload
Travelport estimates that the travel industry has gone from about 500 economy/ business options available in 2010 to over 10,000 options in 2024 (economy, economy plus, flexi-family, business, first, etc.). That’s a 1,900 per cent increase. And as more sources of content from travel suppliers emerge (NDC, LCC, etc.) more choice doesn’t necessarily translate into a better booking experience for the customer. Travelers care about more than just price, especially when they’re inundated with options. Loyalty programs, aircraft types, Wi-Fi availability, and food and beverage offerings are just some of the factors that influence decision making. That’s where retailers, empowered with the right AI capabilities and tools, come in.
The right option
Studies show that consumers are so overwhelmed with options when shopping for travel, that many spend an incredible amount of time researching and comparing options. In fact, Expedia’s 2023 Path2Purchase study found that, on average, travellers view 141 pages of travel content in the 45 days prior to booking a trip. Of course, price and duration will always be important attributes when it comes to searching for travel. But with so many options to compare, retailers need AI and ML to show them the offers that are most likely to fit their travellers.
If Google and Amazon have taught us anything, it’s that finding the right product at the top of your search page really matters. No one ever said, “Wow that was an amazingly fast, super smart search process” – yet we would feel it if results were not accurate. Duplicate fares, content that cannot be booked, and confusing offers add complexity to travel retailing. In a world where multi-source content is here to stay, the industry needs greater intelligence – the ability to intelligently curate content, using the power of AI and machine learning (ML), to quickly piece together the options a customer is most likely to book.
Speed matters
Along with finding the best options, travellers also care about their time. Digital retailers are losing $300billion from bad online search experiences in the US alone. This poses a real threat to online travel agencies. Using AI in the most impactful way means generating the best options fast to avoid latency that leads to frustration and takes the joy out of booking a trip. We’re using AI and ML to sift through aggregated, multi-source content and return relevant search results even faster than the average airline response time. The best retailers in any industry piece together the right offers at the right time – and in travel, AI and ML are critical to enhancing search and shopping experiences with greater speed and intelligence.
On its own, AI will never be able to replace a travel agent or deliver the value an agency can. But what it does hold is the power to ease the burdens of multi-source content and choice overload. We developed our Content Curation Layer (CCL) and Content Optimizer to do just that: deliver the right range of accurate, highly intuitive search results to our travel agency partners worldwide. It’s time for travel technology to put control back in the hands of the industry’s true retailers.
