Skift CEO Video: Travel Planning and Booking Are About to Converge, Are You Ready?

The boom of conversational AI is making so many new possibilities dreamt of for decades finally possible. The technology today is 100 percent there, what matters is whether, or when, large companies will adopt it for product development.

We will likely see more combinations of search engines with integrated chat boxes like Bing’s integration of OpenAI. Online travel agencies, potentially airlines as well, have existing infrastructures set up for integrating a travel planning layer on top of their travel booking technology. 

Whether booking finds planning first or vice versa, the key here is how engines will innovate to incorporate these new tools and move up the travel booking cycle to capture valuable travel planning advice that prompts higher conversion rates.

Skift founder and CEO Rafat Ali said it is unlikely that chat boxes will take over for booking, at least for complex travels. However, a hybrid system can emerge for the travel search process, like an elevated version of Google Assistant.

Watch the short 10-minute video below as Ali explains how this will unfold. This is a follow-up on his first video for the new era of radical innovation in travel booking.