Artificial Intelligence and Alternative Tech In Travel

Our third article examining the how travel could evolve in the years ahead, we look at why we think the influence of ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE could be a powerful force in the direction of the industry.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY IN TRAVEL

The debate that rages around the threat that AI represents to the traditional agency model of travel sales, distribution, product development, customer experience and marketing is reminiscent of the debate that raged around the threat of the internet when it first became a factor in the industry 25 years ago. Just as agents were battling the growth of the internet two decades ago, the same arguments being rolled out in the face of a growing threat from AI and alternative communication technologies like AR and VR.

And to be honest, the agents and their advocates are right – to an extent. It will be some time before technology can handle the nuances of a complex, multi-stop, multi-modal travel itinerary requiring the coordination of multiple reservation systems and booking and payment technologies. But the growing cost of sale, the volume of complaints the industry deals, and the cottage industry that has grown up around dealing with compensation also demonstrates that the current friction-heavy model needs improving.

As so often is the case nowadays, all roads in the AI journey start with the data, and a single view of the customer. The data, and the metadata that Chatbots can link to via APIs, will enable a brand to understand the motivations of their customers, and then predict their future needs – offering automated, personalised and intelligent travel services and offer customised responses that human travel advisors can then pick up and convert in to bookings. It can learn the behaviour, choices, intent and inclinations of travellers and provide a personalised experience, benefiting the customer and facilitating their decision-making. It is already modernising travel by taking it from a complicated, drawn-out experience to one that is more enhanced and customer-focused, with dynamic pricing and operational technologies that make life easier for customer and vendors alike.

The fact is that over time, increasingly, travel brands will see AI as not only a cost-saving tool for certain simple bookings, and other areas of more complex transactions, but also as an acquisition medium. Essentially, AI will empower agents to release their most repetitive, and least profitable, tasks – but what they contribute can then be further augmented by the findings that the AI has learnt about the customer. They can provide a richer service, and they can provide it in a shorter amount of time. The agencies of the future will be the ones who integrate machine learning in to how they operate.

We believe that in 2020, the introduction and adoption of AI-fuelled tools will continue to accelerate as travel brands pivot towards them as not only a cost-saving and friction-removing tool for certain simple bookings, but also as an acquisition medium. This is the direction of travel. While Google is best equipped to exploit AI in its travel proposition, simply because of the development and financial resources it has access to, it has many competing priorities across numerous sectors. But the other big travel companies are beginning to look at it seriously. Last year, for example, Expedia spent $1.6 billion on technology investments in 2019 alone, and dnata Travel Group has acquired ‘digital empathy’ specialists BD4Travel as it explores how AI can improve what its UK consumer travel brands offer customers.

The ultimate goal of any travel brand today is to remove friction. Many are betting big that AI can do that, and we think they’re on to something.