AI Insights is PhocusWire's newest feature. We want to help you keep up with how brands across the travel industry are exploring - and using - generative artificial intelligence solutions from companies including OpenAI, Google and more. So we're surveying technology professionals at leading travel brands, and we'll be publishing their answers periodically here.
Our first AI Insights comes to us from Tom Kershaw, chief product and technology officer at Travelport. Travelport
provides travel technology and distribution solutions that connect travel
agencies and other buyers with sellers such as airlines, hotels and car rental
companies:
We began working with generative AI in ... early 2020 as part of
the complete restructuring of Travelport’s search and ordering platforms. This
became imperative with the rise of NDC [new distribution capability] and LCC [low-cost carriers] – the need to create a
fully predictive, data-driven search infrastructure. Our search systems are now
entirely AI-based and built on a rich, robust data set.
Our current work with generative AI is focused on ... agent
automation, personalization of offers and real-time pricing and commission
services.
The biggest challenge for us related to generative AI is ... the
complexity of the travel ecosystem and the ever-changing pricing and itinerary
options for travelers.
For the travel industry overall, we see the most potential
for generative AI to ... automate routine tasks like exchanges and refunds, as well
as proactively recommend options to our travelers.
One year from now we expect to be using generative AI for ... literally everything – search and shop, ticketing and servicing and everything
in between.
PhocusWire's AI Insights
Keep up with these quick updates from travel brands about generative AI such as ChatGPT and Google's Bard.