Can AI assistants solve your travel woes? Yes, but...
The fight over who is going to set up the perfect itinerary, book the hotels and flights before a trip is inevitable, be it with your family or friends. After all, this is one of the most cumbersome parts of a trip (yes, more than the exhaustion of travelling itself).
Enter AI travel assistants
Now that AI has taken over most industries (at least the mundane, thankless parts), why should travel be any different?
The integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) into the travel industry has revolutionised the way we plan and experience our journeys.
AI assistants, in particular, have emerged as a significant tool for tailoring travel experiences to individual preferences.
Otherwise, planning a trip all by yourself would mean checking different websites, comparing ticket prices and zeroing in on the one flight that suits your budget and time.
Besides, booking a hotel in an unknown location is always tricky. It would mean talking to friends who have been to the destination already. In case you don’t have an acquaintance to help you with that, you are at the mercy of numerous travel videos/vlogs that might or might not provide the desired information.
Several travel portals, airlines and even top hotel brands have started incorporating AI chatbots to make customer interaction easier and swifter. They are touted to deliver personalised, relevant, and contextual experiences.
However, like any technology, they come with their own set of advantages and disadvantages.
What does an AI travel assistant do?
An AI travel assistant is a tool that uses artificial intelligence to enhance the travel experience.
It acts as a comprehensive companion for travellers, streamlining the planning process by consolidating tasks such as creating itineraries, making reservations, and providing real-time updates.
These assistants use advanced technologies like natural language processing and machine learning to interact with users in a human-like manner, offering personalised advice and recommendations.
They are capable of generating custom and budget-friendly travel plans, even conversing in various languages.
Travel portals using generative AI
Online travel portal MakeMyTrip has launched an AI ecosystem on the platform to help travellers book flights through audio-based instructions.
You can give voice instructions in English or Hindi; and the AI chatbot ‘Myra’ will be ready with a response.
India Today spoke to MakeMyTrip about Myra, and this is what they had to say: “AI-driven algorithms, and voice-generating AI are enhancing personalised travel recommendations and enabling native language conversations between travellers and virtual assistants.
We have already launched an AI ecosystem on the platform to help travellers book through audio-based instructions. This helps users based in the remotest corners of the country who have trouble engaging with an app-environment or mobile keypad, get solutions in a conversational language. The feature is available in English and Hindi for our flights and holiday funnel.”
