7 Successful Applications of AI & Machine Learning in the Travel Industry

Owing to our increased dependency on gadgets, people today are more likely to plan trips via smart apps. They can actually spend many hours glued to the screen — finding the best place, best price, and the best itinerary. This is where Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning come into play. This can generate super-personalized suggestions to prospective travelers, by analyzing large datasets.

It is apparent that outside of chatbots, the field of AI and machine learning in the travel and tourism industry is still in its infancy. Much of the impact of artificial intelligence on the travel and tourism industry focuses on customer service and engagement.

Compared to sectors such as banking, healthcare, and e-commerce, it’s clear that the travel and tourism industry does not have a very robust vendor landscape for AI & machine learning related solutions. This is likely because it is a relatively small sector, and most of the venture capital money and the focus of the startups are instead of larger sectors rather than on travel by itself.

According to a survey, digital travel sales are predicted to cross $800 billion by 2020. Such apps are recreating the full-service experience by using AI & ML for travel software development.

Many of the benefits of AI and machine learning happen behind the scenes, which is why we focused more on startups & SMEs leveraging AI-based software or platforms that would help travel and tourism businesses with their conversions and engagement on the backend.

Let’s discuss the most successfully realized applications of AI & machine learning in the travel industry:

1) Prediction system

People are most eager for the optimal price while booking any flight. However, the flight price generation engine works according to specific rules. The ML algorithm can detect anomalies after a large rate increase, taking into account a combination of features that caused such an increase.

Travel providers can help travelers find the best time to book a hotel or buy a cheap ticket by taking advantage of machine learning. When the agreement is available, the application will probably send a notification to the user.

2) Chatbots

Customer service is the most caring thing in the travel industry and using chatbots, you can provide full-fledged customer service 24/7 that automatically reduce the load on personnel. Respond instantaneously at any time of the day or night, providing comprehensive support and, strangely enough, manages relationships with human beings in a friendly way can be easily done with chatbots.

With proper prior programming, chatbots can enhance the entire travel experience, starting from automatic reminders before arrival to suggesting nearby entertainment venues and transportation facilities at the destination.

3) User experience management

According to a report, 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout is unattractive. ML can infuse the client’s journey in different points: from inspiration, research, experience to sharing impressions with family and friends. Artificial intelligence can actively learn from each interaction on the website and, therefore, optimize the flow of users. The application of AI & ML to UX will help to understand how the customer experience should be designed.

4) Recommender systems

It is to bring customers to your travel website or app but it is, however, can be challenging to retain them and respond to customers’ increasingly complex expectations in the right manner. Hence, recommendation systems come into play. The footprints of each client on the travel platform allow the system to understand the needs, budget, and preferences of each client and suggest agreements that are appropriate. Delivering the right recommendations at the right time will help reinforce customer loyalty, making them come back again and again.

The recommendation systems enabled by AI can be fed with historical data such as previous reservations, behavior or data in real time of the traveler. For example, when the person opens the newsletter by email, he sends a signal to a data scientist to incorporate it into the next touch. After processing and aligning with the traveler’s context, a recommendation system enabled by AI can provide a superior experience.

5) Sales optimization

AI-driven software models can train sales managers at all stages of the sales funnel. The AI and ML software models can also help increase the cross sell/sale of products through the application. For example, if the customer prefers to drive a car on business trips and is looking for some hotel deals, the algorithm will get car rental offers from the whole set of suggestions.

6) Cost optimization

The dynamic pricing technology infused by AI can help identify purchase patterns so accurately that airlines can synchronize their pricing strategies in real time and present the right price at the right time.

Each user has specific characteristics, such as preferred days and time to fly, time to buy tickets, convenience, etc. The system automatically detects the correct compensations between the price and the characteristics of the product and offers the relevant offers at the right time and at the optimal price.

7) Fraud detection

Artificial intelligence tools that use natural language processing, machine vision, and machine learning can analyze extensive data sets and several data sources in real time. Based on the data, the AI system can identify abnormal behaviors and create risk scores to build a complete understanding of each payment transaction.

By incorporating AI-enabled tools, travel companies will be able to decipher the trusted payers of those who are not, detect anomalies with the highest precision and speed and, therefore, secure online transactions.

Conclusion:

So far we have seen how AI & ML software development is facilitating customer-travel provider relationships, instantly enriching the experience and providing the frictionless experience. The industry is adopting the first approach of artificial intelligence, betting that relevance becomes the winning factor.

Artificial intelligence in travel and tourism is used to predict travel options, customize services, complete reservations and manage needs on the trip and after the trip.

Now if you are planning for your next AI & ML mobile app development, then talk to some of the best software development companies that can help you with all your AI & ML software development needs along with expert software testing services.

7 Successful Applications of AI & Machine Learning in the Travel Industry was originally published in Hacker Noon on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.