7 Ways AI Is Changing Business Travel

26.07.2024 - 21:11 / skift.com / Sean Oneill / Generative Ai

While the travel agent on the screen looked and sounded like a video game character, it asked and answered travel booking questions with a near-human speed. With the power of generative artificial intelligence (AI), the Zeno computer travel agent from tech company Serko talked me through relevant hotel suggestions for an upcoming trip.

I witnessed this demonstration of a live tool Wednesday at the Global Business Travel Association conference in Atlanta. It was one of many examples I saw of how innovations in generative AI are impacting corporate travel. The whole travel tech stack is getting the AI treatment — messaging, policy compliance, expense reports, and even rebooking during disruptions.

Below are some of the many AI applications to business travel processes I heard about from key companies on the convention floor.

“Using Gen AI to answer traveler questions is really important because messaging can be an asynchronous channel where sometimes the traveler may put in a request but then look at the answer 20 minutes later and then ask a follow-up question,” said John Pelant, EVP, chief experience and technology officer at CWT, the travel management company.

“So being able to utilize Gen AI can make it much more efficient for the traveler to get prompt answers to standard questions as a supplement,” Pelant said. “But of course, it’s a supplement, and we still bring in a travel counselor with unique insight to address complex queries.”

Travelport, a tech company that provides reservation software for travel agents, this month introduced a feature called the Content Curation Layer (CCL). This feature uses AI to improve travel searches by quickly sorting through billions of options to find the best matches for customers.

The CCL is part of Travelport’s main platform and uses AI and machine learning to help travel agents compare flights, hotels, and car rentals more quickly. Travelport claims it works faster than typical airline search responses and helps identify the most relevant offers for each traveler.

Amex GBT is working on using Gen AI to extract information from a road warrior’s emailed request to book an itinerary.

The company is testing how to essentially input those details into its platform so that its online booking tool only displays travel options that comply with a road warrior’s travel policy. This removes the need for an advisor to read the email and input the information manually.

Business travelers dread filing expense reports. When various tools sync, though, the process can be simpler. Tech integrations can enable suppliers, such as airlines and hotels, to send electronic receipts straight to the expense reports required by companies. Travelers can ideally just click to submit