An Introduction to AI’s Role in Transforming the Travel Industry

Did you know that Artificial Intelligence could be your next travel concierge? Yes, that’s what’s happening across major airports and hotels where AI-powered tools are used to deliver exceptional customer service through physical robots and digital chatbots. If you enjoy being a lonely traveler, enjoying the serenity of destinations then this is the perfect content that you should go through. Being a passionate globe trotter, have you ever thought about how technology has transformed your travel experience? Right from overcoming difficulties related to traveling alone, to handling service failures, the global travel and tourism market has undergone a major transformation in the last few decades. But, what has been the major driver towards igniting the sea change relating to engaging consumers to gather a lifetime experience?

AI as it is called, the global travel market has undergone a major transformation under the technology influence. 

How has AI helped? Is it only about the traveler’s experience or the service provider’s comfort of churning profits?

AI has emerged as a game-changer in the travel industry. It is rapidly transforming customer experience management for organizations involved in the planning of travel and tourism activities.

Precisely, the travel industry is one of the best in terms of creating an engaging customer interface, where the business outcomes are continuously refined based on individual requirements. Digitized travel inputs have improved the sales volume as consultants speak more about consumer convenience. On the other hand, face-to-face humanoid robots, virtual AI assistants, and intelligent chatbots have largely replaced human interventions to improvise physical conversations and personalized digital travel booking experiences. If we take the case study of Paditravel, a global travel advisory platform, we understand that adopting an AI-based framework has changed the life of scuba divers.

AI helps travelers to find destinations, book holiday resorts, or join live aboard, in order to create aggregation amongst the associated scuba drivers. The brand PADI Travel enjoys immense popularity with global scuba divers, helping them with real-life ratings and reviews while helping them to explore some odd 900 global destinations.

Before we comprehend the complete role of AI to bring in mind-boggling customer experiences, let’s take a close look at the various ways AI is changing the travel industry on a large scale.

• Have Chatbots significantly improved the online booking processes? 

NLP-based AI assistants are helping travelers book tickets to their favorite destinations. These chatbots analyze social behavior across the web, social media, chat messengers, and events. Using customer data, these bots build a personalized conversation script to engage users on the travel apps or websites that are used for booking tickets, checking fares, and gathering tips.

Interestingly, with the emergence of travel aggregator sites, and penetration of online booking mechanisms, travel industries have clearly identified custom fit solutions through analysis of past travel data. Chatbots, on the other hand, get auto-trained to replace human responses in order to guide the consumers. Reducing significant investments from the travel operator, AI-powered virtual assistants could create engaging consumer experiences for demanding customers. 

• Is AI helping to reduce service disruptions in the industry?

Natural disruptions can occur in the process of travel, due to several factors. AI, on the other hand, creates automated interventions to notify consumers in advance, of possible causes of travel disruptions. Cloud computing helps in arranging meaningful feedback on a real-time platform. On the other hand, fog computing applications could keep customers engaged through a continuous feedback process of travel delays and travel disruptions. 

• Is AI facilitating the check-in procedures?

AI is facilitating check-ins within airports through facial recognition technology. Right from booking tickets to checking luggage, AI technologies could create a stable identification for any particular consumer. Such emerging technologies have created a unique advantage in favor of the service operator. 

• Can AI modernize customer service in the travel industry?

The implementation of AI has driven a complete modernization within service processes, helping consumers with the best offerings as per personalized requirements. Voice assistant technology had been integrated into the hotel service delivery verticals in order to implement voice commands to direct consumers. Therefore, robo-advisers could actually help in creating self-adjusted operational modules for complete convenience. 

• Can AI give a choice in Flight fare adjustments?

AI can enable competitive choices, in terms of engaging price fares driven through service aggregation. Online booking of prices can now be done through smart tools monitoring fluctuating market prices. Impending price hikes could be notified on priority while the best seasons for ticket purchases could be made on seasonal demands.

• Does AI allow you to share your experiences?

Research data published by Amadeus, suggest that US travelers can use AI-based tools through smartphones in order to share the travel experiences that had been undergone by them. AI could prove to be beneficial in sharing group photos on social media, and publishing engaging videos of travel, while a large pool of visual data could be organized on common platforms for public viewership. On the other hand, machine learning techniques (ML) could be analyzed through brand-related reviews covering an extensive range of applications. 

• Can AI improve fraud detection within travel processes?

Travel fraud is prevalent in the industry. AI fights these practices through predictive intelligence and real-time incident reporting. Many fintech apps that cater to the travel industry are powered by AI-generated content and recommendations. While managing fraudulent activities is difficult, especially in the travel industry, AI-enabled travel planning and forecasting tools can generate valid online payment records while using profiling techniques to detect fraudulent payments. The use of similar technologies allows faster reaction times in case a fraudulent payment happens. 

Conclusion

AI technology, and its’ penetration within the travel industry is rebranding the latter to create a differentiated outlook. The travel industry is no longer restricted only to destination management, but an engaging user experience is being offered on a personalized note within pocket-friendly budgets. Amplifying human resources and its role, AI recreated a unique bond between the stakeholders to promote absolute user engagement. Integrating technologies like big data analytics and predictive modeling in the travel market, gathering lifetime experiences by travelers’ is now considered to be the new return on investments.