The AI Travel Booking Tools Keep Coming. Not All Will Succeed. 

Travel Tech Briefing

Editor’s Note: Exclusive reporting on technology’s impact on the travel industry, delivered every Thursday. The briefing will guide executives as they decide if their companies should “build, buy, or partner” to stay ahead.

When OpenAI released ChatGPT last November, there were a few companies that released tools right away or even shared plans to do so.  

Then, there were some more. 

Now, there are so many companies releasing tools and talking about plans that it’s becoming hard to keep up. 

In the early days, a simple experimental integration of ChatGPT with a mapping tool was enough to spark interest to publish a news article. It’s only been about six months, and the landscape has changed drastically. Now, not every new tool gets its own story – there’s not enough time in the day. 

Multiple large publicly traded travel companies — Airbnb, Uber, and more — have shared how they believe generative AI will change the way their businesses operate externally and internally. Another of them, vacation rental listing platform HomeToGo, is planning to release an AI tool soon meant to help users book accommodation based on specific preferences. 

As far as booking tools go, most companies have a similar goal in mind: a virtual travel agent that can make recommendations and complete bookings based on highly personalized preferences that the customer provides. 

The question that remains is how the many small companies — with limited data and resources — will be able to compete with the large companies that have unfathomable swaths of data and billions of dollars in revenue. Kudos to the ones who jumped on ideas right away because sometimes being first is important. But there’s no way around it — like social media platforms or past travel apps, few will succeed, and many will fail. 

Skift has already covered multiple AI-powered booking tools in the works: Tripnotes, GuideGeek and Roam Around, Priceline, eDreams Odigeo, multiple online travel agency activities, and more.

Here a just few more that have been released or announced recently:

• Travel Compositor, a booking platform for travel sellers, is releasing an AI-powered planning and booking engine for use by its clients. Called AI Trips, the company said the platform will able users to book an entire trip — including flights, hotel, car rentals, and in-destination ticketed experiences — starting with a simple prompt. 
• Roamefy, formerly theDIYtrip, an AI based travel-tech startup app meant to help users plan and book travel.
• AI.Adventures, a website that uses tech from ChatGPT, said it help users with personalized travel planning and itinerary generation. 
• Iplan.ai is a mobile app that allows users to generate and save multiple itineraries based on location, number of days, and the number of travelers. Itineraries includes photos, maps, and links. 

There are surely more to come. And they’re continuing to get better and better. 

The platforms that succeed will likely need to solve a unique problem or create a recognizable brand. Not every company can “revolutionize” the way travel planning and booking has been done, as many claim they’re in the process of doing. The experts agree that it will change — but exactly who will be behind it is yet to be seen.