Most people love to travel. But fewer like orders.
A survey of more than 2,400 people who booked their own travel found that 71% said the process was the least stressful for them, according to a 2024 survey by consumer data firm CivicScience. The percentage is even higher among parents of children and teenagers, the survey shows.
Planning a trip can involve a difficult slog through booking websites, star ratings, travel reviews and the fine print – first finding what to book, then finding the best price.
Artificial intelligence is set to change this, with ChatGPT already proving that generative AI can provide itineraries and recommendations within seconds.
But Booking Holdings CEO Glenn Fogel told CNBC Travel he wants to “go beyond”.
Instead of leaving travelers to plan their trips from scratch, Fogel said, they want the Bookings brands — including Booking.com, Agoda, Kayak, Priceline and OpenTable — to anticipate their needs.
“I want us to go to the traveler and say, ‘Hello, we think, for all we know, you might be thinking about wanting, let’s say, Naples in Italy. And using all the data we have, everything we know about our customers, what they want, trying to start that conversation.
“That’s the difference,” he said.
As a result, travelers – for example, to connect a room, a crib or a high floor in a hotel – do not have to repeatedly ask for these additions, because AI will anticipate the request.
“It’s like years ago, when there were human travel agents who dealt with people, and those travel agents knew everything about you,” he said. But “technology can do better than human travel agents.”
Generative AI also needs to grow with travelers as they age, Fogel said, as they transition from post-college trips to Ibiza in their 20s to Disney World trips in their 30s.
“You have to know everything about yourself,” Fogel said.
For example, the first time someone requests an infant seat it will indicate that the traveler has a child, and therefore needs the same seat for future bookings, he said.
one-stop ordering
On average, travelers spend more than five hours reading about 141 travel-related web pages in the 45 days before their trip, according to Expedia Group’s “Path to Purchase” report, conducted with Luth Research.
But it’s not a pipe dream to travel everything — from accommodations and flights to activities and meals — all in one sitting, Fogel said.
But “I want even more. I want advice to come to me,” he said.
“Let’s say I went on a luxury trip to London,” he said. “Our generative AI, for example, will say there’s a great steakhouse in Mayfair that you want (based on previous bookings). It knows you like it. The personalization will be fantastic.”
How far?
Everyone wants to know when these new advanced planning tools will be available, Fogel said.
But as with all revolutionary technologies, “hype always precedes actual use.”
Fogel said he doesn’t know when, but he knows how the tool will come.
“It will be incremental, step by step. New services will be added, new products will be added,” he said. “More and more information will become our model, and we will know more and be able to provide better services.”
The company launched a generative AI service on Booking.com called “Trip Planner,” which is currently in beta mode, Fogel said.
It still “just gives us a little taste of the future,” he said.
When a simple, all-in-one plan is coming, “I can guarantee you it won’t happen tomorrow,” he said. “But it will come. I know it.”
