Booking.com has unveiled its new AI Trip Planner, which will launch as a pilot for a selection of US travellers in the company’s app on Wednesday (June 28).
It uses Booking.com’s existing machine learning models that recommend destination and accommodation options as well as large language model (LLM) technology from OpenAI’s ChatGPT API to create a new conversational experience for people to start their trip planning process.
A company spokesperson said there are plans to launch soon in other markets too, such as the UK.
Travellers can ask the AI Trip Planner general travel-related questions, as well as more specific queries to look at potential destinations and accommodation options, and create itineraries for a particular city, country or region.
Travellers can chat with the pilot AI Trip Planner to describe what they are looking for, ask questions and refine their search in real time.
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The planner provides travellers with a visual list of destinations and properties, including the online travel platform’s pricing information, with links to view more details.
Users can tap on any accommodation to complete the reservation, as the AI Trip Planner is integrated into the booking offering in the Booking.com app.
Glenn Fogel, chief executive of Booking.com, said: “Our primary aim at Booking.com has always been to leverage technology to make travel easier.
“The recent developments with generative AI are accelerating the work we’ve been doing for years with machine learning to enhance and improve every aspect of the customer experience on our platform.
“Our new AI Trip Planner is simply the next step in our ongoing journey to explore how we can bring even more value, and hopefully enjoyment, to the entire trip planning process.”
Rob Francis, chief technology officer of Booking.com, said: “Our new AI Trip Planner provides us with some really exciting possibilities to help our customers plan and search for travel options in a very natural, human way.
“Oftentimes, people are asked to adapt to the confines of technology to do what they want, but with generative AI, we’re able to start having scalable, one-to-one conversations with our customers on their terms, much like how you would begin to talk about planning a trip with your partner or friends.”
From June 28, the beta AI Trip Planner will become available to a growing number of Booking.com Genius members in the US over the coming weeks.