Travel Industry Update: Rapid Adoption Of Ai Technology Continues In All Facets Of The Business

By Author: D Edward Levy
Total Articles: 27
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Travel and technology have always had a highly connected relationship as the industry is always on the lookout to improve operations, elevate experiences and reduce overhead. The travel industry has always been quick to implement new technologies and 2 recent tech milestones, household use of the internet and mass adoption of smartphone devices, have permanently changed the way travel business is conducted. The next ‘big thing’ for travel is already here and adoption of AI based technologies within the travel industry continues at high speed as both the operational and consumer sides of travel benefit from artificial intelligence methods and systems. Overall investment across all industries in AI based technologies is expected to surpass $3 trillion (USD) over the next 3 years. Controversial or not, the travel industry is fully embracing AI tech and real world travel consumer preferences are also shifting towards the technology.

AI Improves the Backend

The rapid adoption of new technologies in the travel industry is usually attributed to optimizing a ‘high overhead’ business where even the smallest efficiency ...
... can amount to large savings in money and time, the 2 most valuable resources for travel businesses. AI technology continues to prove itself valuable on the operational side of the business with high speed processing of data and fast execution and automation of tasks. Transportation providers are using AI to better plan service schedules, manage asset maintenance and run inventory processes more efficiently. The push towards document free, or ‘paper free’ travel continues with many airports and transportation terminals adopting facial and biometric technologies to improve passenger experience and reduce processing times. These technologies use AI in the backend for security comparisons and identity matching. Travel businesses are adopting new marketing technologies to strategize and effectively deploy marketing elements based on data and insights from AI. The travel industry is continually looking for new ways to save time and money and the evolution of AI has touched every facet of the operational side of the travel business.

A Preferred Way of Doing Business

AI technology is creating seismic shifts in the consumer facing part of the business. The technology’s high level of engagement, 2 way interactivity and language comprehension make it a practical customer service tool and can provide extended travel planning, research and purchasing benefits to travel consumers. Travel consumers are showing preferences for these ‘concierge-like’ services and a recent survey of travel consumers by Accenture indicated that 80% of respondents use AI tools in travel planning and purchasing for hotels, airlines and other travel services. Capabilities of AI powered travel tools are also increasing with some platforms able to reserve, purchase and confirm an entire trip in one user interaction. While leisure travelers lean towards the more immersive AI experience, businesses and corporate travel planners are seeking efficiencies and savings through AI’s powerful task automation and search abilities. Travel planners can now input just the details to generate a full travel itinerary complete with price comparison and potential savings through other presented travel options.

AI Overcomes a Lingering Challenge

A lingering challenge for the travel industry is the potential for service and quality gaps, caused by vacancies or lack of training in guest facing service teams. Travel providers depend on guest perspectives and opinions for reputational and extended marketing opportunities. Negative guest experiences caused by these service gaps can have negative effects on branding and public perception of the business. AI powered training tools can provide a much faster and more effective way to train travel workers, ensuring they have the skills and habits they need to perform at a higher level. hospit-AI-lity is a new training platform from TTS and utilizes the latest in large language model comprehension and data processing to deliver specific and proprietary training content to new travel workers. The dynamic data handling methods used by hospti-AI-lity extends functionality to upskilling and developing current workers, improving their own capabilities and performance. Walt, the lead training agent, is in evaluation mode and online, ready to answer questions regarding travel guest services. Take Walt out for a spin and let us know what you think. Get access here: https://hospit-ai-lity.com/HAIY_Sample_Model_Portal/

Hype or The Next Travel Technology Revolution

The travel industry has gone through seismic shifts over the last 3 decades as global usage of the internet and smartphone devices increases year after year. These advances have completely changed the way the industry operates but the latest innovations in AI based technology are set to make even bigger changes in the way travel businesses operate and interact with their customers. AI has proven valid and functional in every facet of the travel business, from high density backend operations of global transportation companies to consumer facing concierge type planning services offered by some of the largest hotel and resort brands. In a business where guest services are a critical part of the experience, travel training speed and effectiveness has been elevated with AI based tools and platforms that deliver those essential guest service skills with greater impact. With the continued investment into AI infrastructure, the hype of AI is real as the technology becomes a regular part of daily life.