Booking.com announced that it will be introducing a trip planner feature on its travel booking app. This new feature, powered by ChatGPT’s large language model, will allow selected travellers in the U.S. to ask questions and create itineraries. Alongside ChatGPT, Booking.com will utilise its existing machine-learning models to provide destination and accommodation options.
According to Rob Francis, Booking.com’s technology chief, the AI Trip Planner opens up exciting possibilities to assist customers in planning and searching for travel options more naturally and humanistically. ChatGPT, developed by San Francisco-based OpenAI, is a chatbot capable of simulating dialogue, addressing follow-up questions, acknowledging mistakes, challenging incorrect premises, and rejecting inappropriate requests.
Initially, an early version of the trip planner will be made available to selected members of Booking.com’s loyalty programme, in the United States over the next few weeks. In April, Expedia, Booking.com’s competitor, also launched a test version of its in-app travel planning experience powered by ChatGPT. Expedia members can engage in conversations with the feature to receive recommendations on places to visit.
