AI agents make their mark at HotelPlanner

Some film fans may remember Her, an American futuristic film by Spike Jonze released in 2013. The script described a writer who falls in love with the voice of a Artificial Intelligence integrated into its computer.

Reality is now catching up with fiction. In a recent article in the UK’s Daily Mirror, a journalist specialising in digital technology recounted his experience with the new AI travel agent launched by American company HotelPlanner. He went on to say that he had fallen under the spell of the female voice, Cassandra. The journalist describes her as competent, patient and polite. A real work of seduction!

The AI agent, the new travelling companion for business travellers?

HotelPlanner has initiated a veritable revolution with its AI travel agents. This was explained during the ITB Asia trade show in Singapore by Bas Lemmens, Vice-President Europe/Middle East and Bryce Fosdick, Vice-President Technologyboth for HotelPlanner.

For Bryce Fosdick, AI agents are on the way to replacing chatbots. I’m not a fan of chatbots, he explained to ITB Asia. They’ve been around for 10 or 15 years, and most people hate them. They work for limited customer service, but for transactions – real bookings – they don’t measure up.” .

In reality, HotelPlanner realised that the telephone call with interaction remained an essential part of the booking experience. For Bas Lemmens, a digital enthusiast, this insistence on speaking to someone came as a surprise. ” When we launched telephone reservations, I couldn’t believe it.he admits. But I realised the obvious, and the figures speak for themselves. Our call volume reaches 80,000 a day“.

Faced with the volume of calls, HotelPlanner worked on generative AI. The technology chosen combines human connection with artificial intelligence, giving customers back the opportunity to influence their travel bookings. The AI handles some 50,000 calls a day, including bookings and payments. With two major advantages: a service available 24 hours a day and a contact person who speaks the customer’s language.

Language and memory

The language involved a sophisticated application with many challenges. “ The voice must sound natural and respond quicklysaid Bryce Fosdick. A delay of five or ten seconds is unacceptable when someone is on the phone. Finally, we also worked on accents. The British have an AI agent who speaks with a British accent. The same goes for Australians and Americans. “.

There are also agents who speak French, Canadian French, German, Italian or even Japanese and Mandarin. Users can select either a male or female agent.

The other major task was to integrate years of HotelPlanner reservation recordings and transcriptions into the AI’s memory. This enables the virtual agent to advise or find a specific hotel. The result is a truly end-to-end conversational booking experience.

However, HotelPlanner has not switched to 100% for AI management. ” We do not believe that everything can be managed by Artificial Intelligence.Bas Lemmens emphasised. If a call is too complex, it is always transferred to a human.“. So human contact remains – in part – essential.

For the future, HotelPlanner wants to work on a frictionless booking and travel experience. As Bas Lemmens, the “connected travel “It’s still a dream, an unresolved challenge. ” People still visit up to 30 sites before bookinghe explained during his session at ITB Asia. But now, with AI technologies, we are finally close to making travel seamless.” .