Skift Take
Booking.com has taken more time than competitors to release updates for its AI tool. But it still has some of the same kinks to work out.
Booking.com has made a big update to the AI trip planner on its mobile app.
The company released the first version of its AI trip planner in June 2023. It could only answer general travel questions at that time, not search for specific bookings.
The company said on Wednesday that mobile app users can now ask the AI trip planner to search for properties based on parameters, as well as ask questions about specific properties.
The company gave some examples of prompts that users could write: âHotels in Amsterdam with a great gym, a rooftop bar, and canal views from the room,â and, âDoes the hotelâs pet policy accept large dogs?”
Once a user submits a prompt for a search, the AI scans Booking.comâs inventory while applying the most relevant filters, meant to remove the need for manual filtering.
To answer property-specific questions, the AI scans the property listing, traveler reviews, and photos. Users can ask property-specific questions now through the general AI chatbot. Another version is coming to individual property pages soon, the company said.
Next, Booking.com is getting AI-generated review summaries, meant to provide key insights about a property without the user needing to browse through the list of reviews.
In the future, the company plans for AI to play a role in managing trips, such as helping travelers navigate solutions to flight disruptions, according to a statement from Joe Futty, vice president of product marketplace at Booking.com.
The AI trip planner is available to users in the U.S., UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore. Itâs coming in local languages to users in Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Poland, and the Netherlands in the coming months. A desktop version of the tool will also follow, the company said.
How it Works
Booking.com has been moving more slowly than its competitors. Expedia in May said it would be adding multiple AI tools, and property review summaries have been available for a while. Among others, HomeToGo has been working on its AI trip planner for some time.
All of them have proven to be clunky, however, often making it easier to search for bookings the traditional way at this point.
Despite Booking.comâs updates coming later than competitorsâ, its tool is still about as clunky as the rest.
To test the tool, we started with the prompt that Booking.com provided: “Hotels in Amsterdam with a great gym, a rooftop bar, and canal views from the room.”
It started by asking the dates for the trip, and then it provides several options. No major issues yet.
The property-specific feature also seems to work well at first. But, it won’t answer questions about multiple properties, only one at a time.
And, asking property-specific questions shows that the AI-powered search filters don’t work like magic. One option that the AI provided in response to the original prompt was for the Urban Lodge Hotel. But, when asking if that hotel has canal views, the AI couldn’t determine if it does: “The Urban Lodge Hotel does not specifically mention having canal views from the rooms.”
It broke down more when trying to re-perform a search by adding to the original prompt: “Find me a hotel with similar parameters that also allows pets.” The first hotel suggestion was Via Amsterdam. The AI then said that hotel did not allow pets or have a rooftop bar.
