The Priceline app is shown on an Apple iPhone.
Andrew Harrer | Bloomberg | Getty’s paintings
As latest AI tools move beyond consumer chatbots and web search to achieve a wider range of companies, online travel is jumping on board.
Book, Expedition AND Airbnb are among the many travel agencies on the lookout for ways to simplify the booking process and help customers plan their trip faster.
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“You do not know where you wish to go? This tool will allow you to narrow it down pretty quickly,” Brett Keller, CEO of Priceline, told CNBC.
Priceline, a unit of Booking, has just revealed a latest partnership with Google Cloud. Generative AI tools from Google will allow potential travelers to speak with the chatbot in a conversational way during planning and receive personalized hotel reservations.
Keller said the AI will help customers make more informed decisions about where and when to travel, and help his staff speed up response times.
“We employ 1000’s of individuals today to answer customer inquiries,” said Keller. “AI will speed up the agent’s ability to offer useful advice.”
Keller said that if an agent helps a customer make changes to a visit, all different stages have complex cancellation policies. Keller says the brand new technology can read this information in a short time and reduce waiting times. Google Cloud provides tools and capabilities that help Priceline collect and look at data that may then be used to assist customers.
Carrie Tharp, vp of industries for Google Cloud, said the corporate’s Vertex AI technology will provide users with location-based information to ask questions equivalent to, “What is a kid-friendly activity? I actually have two hours to spare.”
Tharp said the information Priceline puts into Google’s model will stick with Priceline, not Google.
Earlier this yr, Expedia was considered one of the primary players to signal its investment in generative AI. The online travel agency has launched its first ChatGPT-based travel tool, and CEO Peter Kern told CNBC in April that it would make booking, canceling and editing trips much easier.
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky told CNBC the next month that generative AI would make his company’s processes more efficient.
“Over the subsequent 12 months you will notice big changes in our customer support – quality will improve, costs will probably be lower,” he said.
TO WATCH: The CEO of Priceline returns from business trips
