The technology revolution the travel industry is experiencing is quite dramatic. From all travel related plans being conducted by human agents 20+ years ago, nowadays, a vast majority of travel transactions are done online. Not only have traffic and transactions moved online, but artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning have started to make their footprint in the industry as well. In this article we will discuss AI in the travel industry and how it´s being implemented.
What is AI?
Artificial intelligence is a fancy term referring to computers or machines that perform tasks that would normally require humans to conduct. These tasks can be decision making, interpretation of speech, recognition, communication and more. AI is mainly used to automate processes that require little human intervention.
Businesses that collect and store vast quantities of data can use AI to perform tasks ranging from data analysis and problem-solving, communication with customers via messaging, speech translation and personalizing your messages to your customers.
Implementing AI can save businesses time and money while potentially eliminating human error and allowing tasks to be performed quickly, at any time of the day.
AI in the travel industry can be implemented in the following methods:
Chatbots
This is one of the more common ways you will find AI in the travel industry. AI is able to respond to questions and provide valuable information to customers, even when a customer service rep is not available. AI driven chatbots will not completely substitute human customer service, however studies show that chatbots can resolve 65% of customer inquiries, thus reducing the load on the human agent.
Hotel Room Mapping
Due to the lack of standardization in the hotel industry regarding room names and room details, Pruvo Revenue Maker uses AI in order to map hotel rooms. Once we import the hotel reservations of our partner agencies, we use AI in order to match the room type that appears on the reservation with the exact same room with different names that appear on other platforms. Once we detect a better price for the exact same room, we assist our partners in the rebooking of the cheaper offer and increase their revenue by 36% on average.
Data Analysis and Data Processing
Another popular deployment of AI in the travel industry is regarding data analysis and data processing. AI is used to gather and interpret data in order to draw conclusions about customers, business practices and pricing strategies. The main advantage of AI in this particular field is its ability to sort through huge amounts of data quickly and accurately, where the equivalent for humans would take significantly more time and potentially contain more errors. The interpretation of this data can help travel companies make decisions about pricing, customer care and more.
Fraud Detection
Large companies that manage hundreds or thousands of transactions daily must use AI to detect fraud and scams. Reports state that fraud costs the travel industry more than $21 billion a year. AI can identify abnormal behaviors and create risk scores to build a complete understanding of each payment transaction. By incorporating AI-enabled tools, travel companies will be able to detect anomalies with the highest precision and speed and, therefore, secure online transactions.
Room Service
Hotels worldwide have begun implementing voice assistance to deliver an over-the-top level of room service to the clients. Amazon and Marriott collaborated to deploy Alexa for Hospitality, to allow guests to order room service, control room lighting, consult operating hours of the hotel facilities and more.
Dynamic Pricing
Travel companies across the industry use AI for dynamic pricing. This allows them to automatically modify the prices of their services based on dates, market prices, a user’s booking pattern, availability and more.
Reputation Management
Curious as to what people are saying about your brand? Manage your reputation online by using AI-driven social mention tracking tools like Talkwalker or Mention. This will allow you to track media mentions about your company, while also detect customer praise (or complaints) on vast array of platforms.
Price Prediction
Travel providers can help travelers find the best time to book a hotel or buy a cheap ticket by taking advantage of machine learning. AI processes historical data and can help you predict prices of hotels and flights for a later date.
User Engagement
Artificial intelligence can actively learn from each interaction on your website and, therefore, optimize the flow of users and create high intent audiences. AI driven tools like Fixel can help travel companies save money on marketing campaigns by remarketing only to certain website visitors who have been detected as high intent users.
Trip Planning
Travelling for business to Berlin? Going on a safari in Tanzania? Planning a honeymoon to France? AI driven platforms can offer tailored recommendations to travelers based on their needs.
In conclusion, we are just seeing the beginning of AI in the travel industry. As time goes by and technologies are enhanced, AI will be more commonly deployed in different sectors within the travel industry.