Human beings have proven their mettle on the back of many different feats, and yet none has aided their case more than that ability to just grow under all situations. This ability, in particular, has brought the world some huge milestones, with technology emerging as quite a major member of the group. The reason why we hold technology in such a high regard is, by and large, predicated upon its skill-set, which ushered us towards a reality that nobody could have ever imagined otherwise. Nevertheless, if we look beyond the surface for one hot second, it will become clear how the whole runner was also very much inspired from the way we applied those skills across a real world environment. The latter component, in fact, did a lot to give the creation a spectrum-wide presence, and as a result, initiated a full-blown tech revolution. Of course, the next thing this revolution did was to scale up the human experience through some outright unique avenues, but even after clocking such lofty heights, technology will somehow continue to bring forth the right goods. The same has turned more and more evident in recent times, and assuming one new development ends up with the desired impact, it will only put that trend on a higher pedestal moving forward.
Priceline, the pioneering travel innovator, has officially announced the launch of its winter 2024 product release, which will introduce new generative AI-powered features across the company’s Trip Intelligence suite. According to certain reports, the update brings, in total, more than 30 new features to dramatically streamline the usual travel planning and booking process. Before we get into these features, we must try and contextualize their significance by talking about how mean consumers spend an average of two full work days on trip research and booking. This problem is only further accentuated once you take into account a study conducted by Priceline, a study where it was discovered that more than half of travelers say they’d prefer to use AI tools to eliminate hours of onerous research and secure the best deals. Among other details, the study also got into how, out of people familiar with generative AI, almost 73% said they’re receptive to what the technology has on the offer, believing it will streamline travel planning and booking. This contingent is joined by another 65% that reported confidence in AI making travels more enjoyable. To cater the growing demand, Trip Intelligence suite builds upon six months of real-world conditions and proprietary marketplace intelligence, acquired from the customers it has earned since the technology debuted back in June. Making the picture even better are a separate set of insights that claim travelers, who used the suite’s AI assistant named Penny, saved an average of nearly ten minutes per trip compared to those who called customer support. Building upon this initial success, Priceline has conceived integrated technology atop Google Cloud’s Vertex AI and OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo for the purpose of expanding Penny’s capabilities and trip-planning impact sitewide. Under the given technological framework, Penny will introduce personalized GenAI itineraries within its iOS App. Such a detail eliminates any need for you to conduct lengthy research, as it will automatically generate a suggested itinerary down to dining, activity, and stay options. Next up, the update will increase Penny’s remit beyond the hotel category to accommodate flights, car rentals, and vacation packages. This means the GenAI-powered travel assistant is now available on the Priceline home page, a location from where it will directly help you to discover new destinations through intelligent suggestions. Covering particular properties and wider travel packages, the suggestions in question are also going to be tailored as per your needs and personal travel styles. Hence, a user can easily type in something like “suggest sunny and family-friendly destinations within a three hour flight of NYC” and get an appropriate response. However, if they still happen to face any difficulty, Penny can also connect them to live help agents, check the status of a refund, and access important travel information.
Then, there is Priceline Wallet, which packs together the required capabilities for customers to save coupons, monitor expiration dates, and track airline credits, all in a single location. Complimenting the same is a Price Watch feature that ensures Priceline’s customers never miss a value deal. The said feat is realized by empowering clients to track desired flight itineraries, including flexible options and multiple airports for fare comparison, in the Priceline App and receive prompt notifications whenever a chance in price occurs. Apart from comparing fares, the update will also deliver at your disposal an option to compare cabins and seats across domestic flights, thus allowing a comprehensive evaluation in the context of cabin attributes, pricing, upgrade options, and other important factors. Hold on, as another way through which Priceline will soon enhance your air travel is by allowing multi-passenger cancellation and rebooking. Hence, without even talking to an agent, one can cancel and rebook tickets for the whole family using airline credit. The feature, at launch, will be available in select airlines. Having touched on Penny’s value proposition in and around the air travel, we now must discuss its plans to enhance car bookings. You see, here we must acknowledge a fact that Priceline customers can skip the rental car counter altogether, or at least significantly reduce their counter wait times, if they just check-in online ahead of time.
“After six months of expert, on-the-job training, Penny is ready to deliver an even more cohesive and personalized booking experience that saves people time and hassle,” said Brett Keller, CEO of Priceline. “This is a continuation of Priceline’s tradition of revolutionizing travel with pioneering technology. We began fully integrating generative AI early last year, and our tools and features will only get better as customers and partners engage with them more and more.”
Going to the monetary bit for a second, Priceline has also formalized a partnership with PayPal to support the launch of its new offers platform. Here, the company will provide personalized cash-back offers to consumers when they purchase their travel package on Priceline before checking out with PayPal. This particular feature is set to go live in the upcoming months. Rounding up the highlights is Priceline’s pledge to improve its app design across all avenues, including overhauls for iPad and Android. More on the design bit, the newly-introduced Trip Timeline will allow users to access at-a-glance view of all upcoming travel dates in one place. Markedly enough, starting from March 2024, iPhone users can even receive Live Activity updates on their lock screen containing useful real-time information about their flights, a facility which will be joined by one new iOS integration to facilitate their search for hotel deals and car rentals. Again, the stated hunt can be carried out from the convenience of Priceline’s Spotlight Search functionality.
Founded in 1998, Priceline has risen up on the back of its proprietary deals technology that pairs negotiation with innovation to analyze billions of data points and generate deep discounts for customers offered by no other travel agency. Owing a lot to this detail, the company, which falls under Booking Holdings’ umbrella, currently provides millions of hotels, flights, alternative accommodations, rental cars, cruises, vacation packages and experiences, in more than 116 countries.
“Booking with confidence and saving time are absolutely key for our customers,” said Kevin Heery, Chief Product Officer at Priceline. “Our expanded Trip Intelligence suite will enable Priceline to further anticipate travelers’ needs, helping them book their trip with ease and peace of mind seamlessly and faster than ever before.”
