The New Life of the Travel Industry with Artificial Intelligence

Business + Management Guest contributor Predictive Analytics Transportationposted by Ralabs July 16, 2019 Ralabs

The new online opportunities for travelers has a negative influence on touristic companies. A large number of their potential clients prefer...

The new online opportunities for travelers has a negative influence on touristic companies. A large number of their potential clients prefer to arrange their vacations on the internet instead of going to travel agencies. But there are a lot of ways new technologies, like AI, can actually help travel companies. Better market analysis, real-time reaction to unpredictable road situations – Artificial Intelligence and Data Science have something to offer to the travel industry.

The vast majority of travelers prefer to use tech innovations that can make a trip more comfortable and enjoyable. Your company will get all the benefits of new technology once you learn how to use it. Implementing AI and Data Science into your strategy will make the business accessible and useful to your clients. The transformation can affect all parts of the customer experience, from offering trips to minimizing risks for both sides.

Making a better offer

How can we guess a customer’s want before they even know they have it? How can we secure a client and not waste their time? Implementing AI in your company can predict the client’s preferences, travel destination, and even the price range of the trip. You can analyze Big Data from social networks and historical data. Every client appreciates an offer, if it considers his personal interests and goals, experiences and purchases. A personalized approach almost always wins. Before making a final decision about travel, customers usually try to research their destination and local amenities. Very often they are not satisfied with Google searches and find mostly meaningless advertising. According to a Booking.com statistic, over half of travelers prefer to delegate this assignment to bots. The same quantity of clients doesn’t mind dealing with bots as long as they actually get answers to their questions.

How exactly can chatbots help?

In the coming years, chatbots will only become more popular, especially for mobile applications. The Chatbots journal asserts over 80% of the booking will be provided by mobile devices by 2020. AI bots can solve certain problems and save some time for clients. The technology has more advantages:

[Related Article: Chatbots in Banking]

– Chatbots are available 24/7—they can help customers outside of your normal hours of business, meaning you can accommodate to those outside of your timezone
– Chatbots can lower your expenses because they are much cheaper than call centers. This does not mean call centers are unnecessary; but bots can handle repetitive tasks that your employees hate, which reduces spending and simplifies employees’ work
– If your system store previous interaction and connected to browser cookies, it can provide personalized answers to a client and form continuing relationships with them
– Chatbot with AI is able to find out more about customer’s preferences and offer suitable trips faster than a travel agent
– Integrated with payment methods, chatbots can make the financial process faster and more convenient

Support during the trip

Even the best-planned trips can be spoiled by emergencies or unpredictable situations like delayed flights or bad service in a hotel. When having a bad experience, a client will likely post their impression on Facebook or Twitter, and your Ai system can find this feedback and promptly react. Automatically, the bot will analyze the situation, give the full information to the client, and make a real-time intervention. Also, AI-based systems are able to provide real-time guidance for your client. It can be very uncomfortable to not rely on friends’ recommendations or reviews in the Internet, but using the real-time suggestions based on your preferences, current location and time help ease that discomfort. Just one click and the traveler gets all information about restaurants near his hotel, convenient places for children, or interesting events. AI can gather necessary information and suggest activities related to a client’s interests.

Before changes come

According to the Accenture and World Economic Forum report, digitizing in the travel industry and aviation will make $305 billion by 2025, and AI is the first trend in these changes. Vice-President of Marriott International (USA) George Corbin said digital changes in travel are not just about the new technology, “We need to combine inventions and people to create a new successful flawless travel system.” Modern chatbots still can not replace a travel agent with a full package of tasks: booking hotels, flights, restaurant reservations, etc. That means we still have a way to move forward. Also, we should remember chatbots are using personal information, and we must guarantee strong protection. Thus, to implement new technology into your business make sure you have a great team to support it.

Originally Posted on Ralabs.org