Generative AI in travel: 8 use cases for 2024 - 2025

According to Forbes Advisor, 97% of business owners believe AI will benefit their companies. If you're running a travel business, you likely agree.

But what does this mean for you? Sure, there's a lot of talk about AI being some kind of miracle solution for everything. The reality is a bit different. AI isn't perfect yet, with a long road ahead. But it can already do some pretty useful things for your company, helping you stay ahead of the competition.

In this article, we'll look at some real examples of how AI is changing the travel industry. We'll explore what's working now, what's on the horizon, and how you might use generative AI to improve your business operations and give your travel services an edge.

What is generative AI?

Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that creates new content, like text, images, or music. It works by learning patterns from existing relevant data and then using that knowledge to produce original output. When given a prompt or task, these AI systems can generate responses by predicting what should come next based on their training.

8 use cases for travel companies

Real-time translation

Generative AI is on track to break down language barriers for good — and it could make your staff more efficient too.

Instead of needing five agents who each speak a different language, you could have just one agent whose text or speech gets translated accurately and instantly. These real-time translations can change everything for your business costs.

This isn't science fiction — it's possible right now with large language models like ChatGPT 4o, leveraging real-time data. The latest voicebots can:

• Pick up non-verbal cues like exhalations and tone of voice
• Pause when interrupted
• Recognize different voices in group conversations

This means your customer could be speaking Hungarian, your agent could reply in Spanish, and they'd understand each other perfectly in their own languages.

Now, it's not ideal yet. The voicebot sounds pretty human-like, but it's still doing a multi-step process: hearing the voice, turning it into text, translating that text, and then reading it out loud. This can sometimes result in delays and minor glitches.

Similar tech is also being used in the real world. Last year, Seoul Metro launched an AI-powered translation service for their stations. It lets tourists chat with staff members face-to-face through a see-through OLED screen, with each person speaking their own language. And it’s not just common languages — it handles complex ones like Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, and Russian, making communication barriers a thing of the past.

Categorization

Generative AI is essentially a sophisticated guessing machine, but its guesses are often remarkably accurate.

This makes it extra useful for categorization in the travel industry. Instead of manually sorting through tons of data, AI can quickly and accurately categorize things like hotel images, descriptions, and even customer support requests.

At Zoftify, we used AI for categorization in our recent project, Travly — a social-driven hotel booking platform for Gen Z travelers. There, we introduced a "Vibes" feature, letting users filter hotels not just by price or amenities, but by the overall feel of the place. Think "Tropical Paradise" or "Luxurious Retreat."

To make this work, we fed hotel images and videos into ChatGPT, gave it our list of “Vibes”, and asked it to match them up. AI algorithms did the heavy lifting of figuring out which hotels fit which “Vibes”.

Another great example is AMGiNE, an AI automation platform for travel management companies. Their AI classification looks at each request that comes in — whether it's a new booking, a change to an existing one, or an invoice request — and categorizes it. This way, travel agents know what they're dealing with and how much time and effort it'll take.

The possibilities for this new technology in travel are endless. It can be applied to numerous tourism industry challenges, such as:

• Sorting customer reviews
• Categorizing specific destinations by activities or climate
• Grouping vacation packages by experience type
• Classifying travel insurance claims
• Organizing travel itineraries by them

It all comes down to your specific needs and how creative you can get with using AI technology.

Customized itineraries

AI travel assistants are becoming a thing — and the demand is only growing. A recent survey from Statista shows that among leisure travelers in the US and Canada, 59% of those under 45 have used AI in their travel planning process.

Established travel companies have noticed this trend — Expedia, Google, Tripadvisor, and others have all put out AI trip planners. But they're not quite hitting the mark yet — these generative AI tools often lack the functionality to change how people search and book travel.

Interestingly, it's the independent startups that are making waves. Take Layla — a personal travel planner AI, chatting with you to understand your needs and then creating tailored suggestions and visual itineraries. It can answer questions about flight prices and cultural insights, pulling info from travel suppliers like Skyscanner and Get Your Guide.

Another startup, Mindtrip, offers a full-on travel search, itinerary planning, and booking website powered by AI. It creates shareable itineraries, adds plans to your calendar, and even lets you book hotels and flights directly.

These startups are catching investors' eyes, too, indicating growing market demands:

• Layla: $3 million in seed funding
• Mindtrip: $19 million in total funding

While it's clear that AI is changing how we travel, the market is still new, and it's not yet known which companies will end up leading the way. But one thing's for certain — if you have fresh AI ideas that change the trip planning process, now might be the perfect time to put them into action.

Recommendations

Almost 70% of travelers think personalization is one of the most important things for their customer experience. This means many people don't want to decide where to go or what to do — they'd prefer someone (or something) to do it for them, like an AI companion.

Gen Z and Millennials are customer segments especially interested in getting travel tips from gen AI. They appreciate systems that consider their past behaviors and preferences. Here's what they want to personalize the most:

• Ideas on where to go (17% think this matters)
• Suggestions for things to do (16% want this)
• Tips on where to eat (12% are interested in this)

This trend has led to the emergence of AI travel companions. One example is Wanderboat, which acts like a knowledgeable concierge. Users can ask questions and receive ideas with photos and videos directly in the app. It’s also great at providing travelers with information on late-night restaurants, bar-hopping routes, ticket prices, parking spots, and more, right on the map.

These AI travel companions are relatively new, but you don't need to be a tech startup to implement similar features. Adding personal AI recommendations to your own travel apps or websites can significantly enhance customer engagement and make them feel more appreciated.

Content generation

With AI, you can speed up content creation for your travel business's website and social media.

Let's say you've just launched a new tour, destinations, or added vacation rentals to your offerings — AI can quickly generate images and text to promote it. You could even set up an automated system that takes your available trips and promotes them on social media or through emails without any human input.

While many travel companies are likely implementing these AI-driven marketing techniques quietly, possibly due to concerns about potential ethical backlash, some big players in the industry are embracing AI more openly.

Air France has developed two generative AI tools:

• An internal gen AI called TALIA, which is their own private ChatGPT. Employees use it for writing emails, finding info in PDFs, planning events, and making to-do lists.
• They're also working on PAMELIA, a tool that will help airport staff answer customer questions right from their iPads. It'll be up and running at Paris-Charles de Gaulle airport by 2025.

In the realm of image creation, the Lithuanian Tourism Board has used Midjourney to generate AI visuals showcasing the country's attractions.

The main issue with this approach, besides the ethical concerns, is the look and the feel of the content. AI-generated stuff often has a similar style, which means your competitors might end up with very similar content if they're using the same tools. Plus, people can often spot AI-generated content — it still has that "not quite right" feel to it.

But here's the thing — these generative AI tools are getting better incredibly fast. Think about how AI images looked just a year ago. Now imagine what they'll be like a year from now. The "not quite right" problem could become less and less noticeable as time goes on.

Review summaries

Modern AI shines in summarization.

Large language models are already powerful when it comes to working with existing text. They can read through the text, pick out the important bits, and give you a quick rundown of what it's all about. And they’re getting it right most of the time.

Countless startups are using APIs from advanced AI models like Claude and ChatGPT to summarize long documents, PDFs, and even entire books. The travel industry is also getting in on this trend, but they're using it for a specific purpose — customer reviews.

If you're running a popular travel website, you probably have tons of reviews. Most of them say pretty similar things, and let's be honest, not all of them are super helpful. This is where AI summaries come in handy.

Tripadvisor, with its vast database of travel reviews, is using generative AI to create hotel summaries. This helps travelers quickly find the information that matters to them without reading through countless individual opinions. Other companies like Expedia, Home2Go, and MakeMyTrip are also using AI for review summaries.

This approach is great for travel businesses because:

• They can spot common issues faster
• They can fine-tune their offerings based on customer feedback
• They can customize marketing using top-praised features
• They can boost conversions by showcasing the most compelling review points

Keep in mind that current large language models still have a problem with "hallucinations" — sometimes they might ignore real information and come up with their own, unrelated content. Even the best AI models today can only produce completely accurate output about 35% of the time.

There's no perfect fix for this yet, so you need to be very careful when using AI for summaries. New versions of AI models like OpenAI o1 or upcoming Claude versions might make things better, but for now it is still a challenge.

Customer service

AI is revolutionizing customer interactions, especially in the travel sector. If you've tried to get help from one of the big online travel agencies recently, you probably talked to an AI first.

Expedia has been using AI for around a year to summarize customer service calls, reducing costs and automating routine tasks. Airbnb uses it to help its agents deal with all their complex policies. Booking.com has AI chatbots on social platforms like Facebook Messenger to assist customers. It's becoming rare not to do this — and you can jump on it, too.

Several startups now offer ready-to-implement AI solutions for customer service, like PolyAI. They provide a voice assistant that closely mimics human speech. This AI can manage a high volume of travel inquiries in 14 languages, with zero missed calls and immediate assistance. Using this system could potentially reduce call volume by up to 50%, saving your company more money in the long run.

More and more customers seem to be okay with this trend. According to Statista, as of March 2024:

• 69% of Millennials support brands using AI for customer service
• 55% of Gen Z adults are in favor
• 54% of Gen X approve
• 35% of Baby Boomers are on board

Still, it's important to be cautious. Remember the Air Canada case? They had to pay a customer because their chatbot gave wrong information, leading to an unnecessary full-price ticket purchase.

AI can improve your ability to meet customer needs but don't get rid of your human team just yet. It's about finding the right mix of AI efficiency and human expertise. For now, we still need real people handling the more serious inquiries.

Automated emails

You can create email communication that really speaks to each traveler with generative AI, using customer data.

For instance, let's say someone's been browsing your website, looking at beach resorts in Bali, but they didn't book anything. AI can trigger an email that reminds them about those specific resorts, maybe throw in a special discount, or suggest similar travel destinations they might like based on their browsing history.

AI can also look at past bookings to predict what travel arrangements a customer might want in the future. If someone books a ski trip every winter, the system could send them early bird deals for ski resorts when the season's approaching. These deals could use dynamic pricing strategies, where AI adjusts prices based on the customer's booking history and current demand for ski trips.

Plus, you can use gen AI to automate emails throughout the customer journey. For example:

• Pre-stay: Send a personalized packing list based on the destination and weather forecast on travel dates
• During stay: Tailor offerings and suggest activities based on the guest's interests
• Post-stay: Ask for feedback and provide travelers with personalized recommendations for future trips

This tech isn't just for the big players. Whether you're running a small B&B or a major travel agency, AI can help you improve your emails and better serve your customer base.

Even the giants are getting in on it. Amex GBT, one of the biggest travel management companies out there, is using AI to read and respond to trip requests via email. The idea is to free up human agents for more complex tasks — like diplomatically explaining why "but it looked bigger on Instagram" isn't grounds for a full refund on a hotel room.

Final thoughts

The travel industry, like any other, is only scratching the surface of AI's potential. What's coming next is even more exciting — with new advancements, AI can improve and streamline nearly every aspect of your business, from revenue management to loyalty programs.

Generative AI in travel is transforming how we think about customer interactions, demand forecasting, and personalized experiences. But while AI is powerful, it's not a magic wand. You need to look closer, keep your finger on the pulse of the industry, and be critical to know what's really working and what's just hype.

After all, the best AI solutions are the ones that solve real problems, not generate buzz.