A review of 2018, a preview for what's next: Artificial intelligence in travel

Throughout 2018, PhocusWire brought you in-depth coverage of some of the critical topics impacting travel, organized by a different theme each month.

As we prepare for 2018 to end and a new year to begin, we are revisiting these themes.

We’ll look back on key developments of the past 12 months and look ahead, with additional perspective from the topical experts we interviewed throughout the year.

In April our theme was artificial intelligence.

We examined at how global distribution systems are incorporating AI into their platforms and processes, with input from Amadeus, Sabre and Travelport.

We also talked to IBM - the creator of the most famous AI engine, Watson - to learn how it is being used in travel, and we talked to the folks at Hopper, the price prediction app that is using AI to drive conversions.

Finally, we explored how AI can help travel brands fine-tune their digital marketing strategies.

We’ve also been tracking the work of several companies using AI to help brands provide consumers a more personalized search, shopping and travel experience, including Baarb, Bd4travel, Hotelchamp, Travelsify, Fetch.AI and others.

To explore what lies ahead for AI in relation to travel, we solicited input from IBM’s global managing director for travel and transportation, Dee Waddell, and from Mark Holt, chief technology officer at Trainline, a company that has been using AI to improve its services.

Dee Waddell – global managing director for travel and transportation, IBM

Digital transformation is at the core of every decision being made by travel companies, with data-driven business models continuing to permeate the entire supply chain.

As a business-ready platform that learns from experience, AI will only become better over time with additional cloud-based computing platforms like Quantum opening up even more possibilities and opportunities.

In 2019, disruption and innovation – led by AI – will accelerate as airlines, hotel chains, railways and rental car companies strive for the competitive advantage and to stay ahead of the curve:

• We’ll see more travel companies embrace AI as the catalyst to a smarter workforce. Digital transformation and AI as the innovative technology is fundamentally about empowering workers to change the way they work and improve outcomes, which benefits organizations, communities and the world. AI enables an expansion of data sources – video, for example – and the real-time and predictive analysis of data for better decisions and the optimization of many workflows.
• This holiday season we’re already seeing large growth in travel, with this number expected to continue to increase as we head into 2019. More travelers mean more data and mining this data will be key to improving the travel journey. AI and automation will play key roles in solving challenges like congestion and weather. For example, airlines, railways and even trucking companies are working with The Weather Company to deliver real-time weather alerts, powered by AI, that help manage travel during adverse conditions and reach their destination safely.
• Travel companies continue to see the benefits of putting data and analytics into the hands of their employees by creating mobile apps that empower them to do their jobs better and deliver a more personalized customer experience. By infusing AI, these apps will become even more powerful and transformative with the ability to understand, reason and learn based on data analytics. This gives travel professionals access to deeper insights so they can make more informed decisions, for an even higher level of customer services.

Mark Holt – chief technology officer, Trainline

Trainline is using AI to predict changing ticket costs, assisting with finding the best alternative route on a disrupted journey or simply giving customers the ability to ask a voice assistant, hands-free – “What’s my commute looking like?”

This year alone we’ve built the world’s first AI-powered disruption alerts for rail travelers.

The AI “reads” rail operators’ tweets and automatically understands how the information applies to customer journeys. It can then share contextual updates with travelers, without them needing to trawl through Twitter to find it themselves.

In 2019 you can expect to see more technology companies thinking outside the box about how to tap into existing data sources.

Similarly, in 2019 we should expect to see more transport operators, online retailers and government organizations working closely together to ensure key transport data is shared for the good of the traveler.

For example, we opened up our data to Etalab - the French government’s data portal - this year to give other companies the chance to build AI innovations. In the United Kingdom, the Joint Rail Data Action Plan is also kicking into effect, encouraging train operators to share more data - for example on train location - with technology companies to benefit industry innovation.

With new sources of data opening up, expect to see many new AI-fueled features coming to travel apps.

Finally, next year we’ll see a rise in AI-voice interaction, which will build upon the data used for voice searches and which will aid in understanding exactly how people are interacting with voice tools.

For example, what phrases are most efficient or which idioms might confuse the AI? Overall, by the time we get to 2020, AI is likely to be informing almost every aspect of journey planning - and customers will enjoy a simpler and smarter experience thanks to it!