Southwest Airlines and its pilots’ union reached a preliminary labor agreement on Monday, ending three-and-a-half years of tense negotiations.
30.11.2023 - 21:57 / skift.com / Justin Dawes
Trip.com Group said Thursday that it has selected Amazon Web Services as its “strategic cloud provider” in a multiyear deal meant to drive innovations in travel bookings, personalized recommendations, and customer service.
China-based Trip.com Group owns Trip.com, Skyscanner, and other travel sites.
“They are using generative AI in order to reinvent the travel experience,” said Steven Elinson, managing director of Travel and Hospitality at AWS, in an interview with Skift.
“They’re trying to create generative AI-based customer service; they’re trying to change the way that customer search occurs; they’re trying to change the way that flight demand happens.”
AWS is hosting a conference this week in Las Vegas, where it announced the Trip.com partnership as well as a number of other new technologies for the travel industry.
Elinson noted the value of the multiyear agreement.
“It’s a pay-as-you-go pricing model, so at any millisecond, a customer could say, ‘I’m no longer getting value from their services,’ and they could turn them off.”
Chao Ma, vice president of Trip.com Group, said in a statement that AWS will “play a pivotal role” in helping the company speed up the booking process, optimize flight pricing, and create personalized travel planning capabilities for consumers.
Trip.com Group has partnered with AWS on a number of projects over the years. Earlier this year it said it was establishing a joint innovation lab with AWS with a focus on five areas: AI, flights, hotels, international business, and cloud technology. Projects include developing software for AI-driven customer service, hotel search optimization, and flight ticket demand forecasting.
The partners also said earlier this year that they are developing a four-year education program expected to train 2,000 Trip.com Group employees on next-generation AI and cloud capabilities, including how to develop new cloud-based applications.
Trip.com Group said it has migrated more than 400 of its business components to the AWS cloud. It claimed in a statement that the move “significantly improved the speed of its air ticket booking system and reduced overall total memory consumption by more than 96%, resulting in substantial cost savings.”
Trip.com Group said in a public filing earlier this year that it hosts services on “both public and private cloud technologies.”
In July, the company said it was developing a proprietary generative AI technology to contribute to its goals of modernizing. It was around the same time that it released an upgraded version of an AI chatbot on Trip.com powered by OpenAI.
Southwest Airlines and its pilots’ union reached a preliminary labor agreement on Monday, ending three-and-a-half years of tense negotiations.
South Florida’s Gold Coast is renowned for its blue skies, pristine beaches, and ritzy lifestyle. Anchored by Miami to the south and Palm Beach to the north, this stretch of Atlantic coastline has long been a playground for the rich and famous. Smack dab in the middle of the Gold Coast is Fort Lauderdale. The tropical metropolis is sometimes overlooked for its glitzier neighbors when it comes to vacation locales — the city was once best known as the capital of spring break pilgrimages and, in more recent years, as a popular cruise ship port — but thanks to recent development, a thriving arts and culture community, an evolving culinary scene, and its laid-back vibe, Fort Lauderdale is now one of the state’s must-visit destinations.
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Perla La Paz, Tapestry Collection by Hilton and Tropicana Los Cabos, Tapestry Collection by Hilton mark the brand’s arrival in the region adding to the company’s Baja California portfolio of award‑winning hotels.
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Best Western Rewards' latest promotion has launched two generous hotel deals that allow you to stack bonuses this winter. And while you may already have your holiday or winter stays booked, this hotel promotion is one that you should really consider and take advantage of. Keep reading to find out how you can earn up to 100,000 reward points, as well as a $100 gift card.
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Cyber Monday and Travel Tuesday may be over, but Delta Air Lines is still rolling out the deals for travelers eager to get away. The airline recently published a list of “Fly Into A Winter Wonderland” deals on their website, which offers discounts both in cash and using Delta SkyMiles redemptions for flights both within the United States and internationally. “Redefine the winter blues and take advantage of low seasonal fares to destinations from cozy cities to tropical escapes and alpine adventures,” Delta shares on their website about the sale. Travel + Leisure spotted deals from nearly every one of Delta’s hub cities in the United States. The current promotion offers deals between December 2023 and January 2024. The lowest miles fare was 14,000 miles and $12 for a round-trip flight from Seattle, WA, to San Francisco, CA. Some of the other top flight deals include: