Online booking giants are reportedly taking steps to counter the encroachment of AI agents.
As the Financial Times (FT) reported Tuesday (Sept. 9), this means forging partnerships with companies such as OpenAI to gain a foothold as artificial intelligence (AI) offers travelers a way to arrange trips and lodging.
According to the FT, Booking.com and Expedia are deploying new AI-enabled features using models from OpenAI to automate services and launch tools such as trip planners. And Airbnb has debuted an AI-powered customer service agent to handle customer queries, with plans to roll out more “agentic” functions on its platform next year.
The FT notes that these moves are happening as AI agents, autonomous bots that can perform actions on a user’s behalf, can now make arrangements for travelers based on their preferences, a potential threat to the $1.6 billion travel industry and to online travel agents.
“We don’t have to do what OpenAI, Google, Grok or Meta are doing . . .[all of whom] are having to invest incredible amounts of money to build these models,” Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking Holdings, which owns Priceline and Booking.com, told the FT.
“Our belief is that as long as we … work closely with them that we will be able to participate in a way that provides a great return for our customers and our partners,” he added.
Meanwhile, Kayak CEO Steve Hafner spoke with PYMNTS earlier this year about his company’s plans to launch AI agents to help customers with everything from searching for trip ideas to completing checkout.
“One thing Kayak hasn’t done as well as search is booking,” Hafner said. “We’ve had to hand people off to airline or hotel websites or online travel agencies to complete the booking. With agentic AI, we can actually facilitate that without the consumer ever having to leave the Kayak experience.”
That interview came in the wake of a PYMNTS Intelligence report, “At Your Service: Generative AI Arrives in Travel and Hospitality.”
Research from that report showed that 52% of customers expect AI to help with interactions, while 44% think it will improve guest engagement.
“Despite these advances, experts caution against overusing AI in customer-facing roles. While generative AI can offer efficiency, it can result in robotic and impersonal interactions, which may alienate customers,” PYMNTS wrote. “It is essential for businesses to integrate AI in a way that enhances human interaction rather than replacing it entirely.”