SINGAPORE, 29 October 2024: Booking.com, a global digital travel platform, has announced its AI Trip Planner (Beta) is now available for travellers in Singapore.
The country is the first market in Southeast Asia to launch, following earlier rollouts of the AI Trip Planner in Australia, New Zealand, the US and the UK.
Built upon the foundation of Booking.com’s existing machine learning models, which recommend destinations, accommodation, and attractions to millions of travellers on the platform every day, the AI Trip Planner is also partially powered by large language model (LLM) technology from OpenAI’s ChatGPT API to create a new conversational experience for people to start their trip planning process.
Singaporeans are ready for AI enhanced travel planning
In a recent study conducted by Booking.com*, over half (55%) of Singaporean travellers are inclined to use AI tools for their travel planning and trips. They plan to utilise AI for various purposes, including itinerary planning (57%), activity suggestions (51%), travel tips (49%), destination selection (43%), accommodation suggestions (42%), and restaurant recommendations (40%). Additionally, close to half (48%) of Singaporean travellers are specifically looking for technology amenities and services, such as AI-enabled touchpoints, in their accommodations.
A new way to search and explore on Booking.com
Travellers can ask the AI Trip Planner general travel-related questions, as well as more specific queries to support any stage of their trip planning, including scoping out potential destinations and accommodation options, providing travel inspiration based on the individual’s needs and requirements, as well as creating itineraries for a particular city, country or region.
More tailored and relevant travel recommendations
Travellers can easily chat with the AI Trip Planner to ask questions and refine their search in real-time, with new options surfaced in a matter of seconds. Whether seeking inspiration for a romantic getaway in Bali, curating a list of family-friendly accommodations in Sentosa, or exploring the best attractions in Hokkaido for a winter holiday, the AI Trip Planner makes recommendations in a quick, effortless and conversational way.
Integrated travel planning experience
The AI Trip Planner takes the trip planning process one step further by providing travellers with a visual list of destinations and properties, including Booking.com’s pricing, with links to view more details. Travellers can switch between their chat with the AI Trip Planner and the Booking.com app as they consider trip options. With just a tap on their desired booking type, whether it’s accommodation or attractions, users can easily complete their reservations within the app.
“At Booking.com, our primary goal has always been to harness technology to make it easier for everyone to explore the world. With the exciting advancements in generative AI, we’re enhancing every aspect of the customer experience—from optimising how we present hotel and holiday home options to recommending the most relevant reviews and attractions tailored to the traveller,” said Booking.com Regional Director of Southeast Asia and China Anthony Lu.
“Our AI Trip Planner represents a significant step forward in our mission to deliver greater value and enjoyment to travellers in Singapore, allowing them to plan their trips in a natural, conversational manner and transforming travel planning into a truly personalised experience.”
The AI Trip Planner will be available to all Booking.com users in Singapore, allowing travellers to take advantage of this new travel planning tool. Since its first beta launch in the UK and US in June 2023, the AI Trip Planner has attracted 3.7 million visitors, facilitated 700,000 dialogues, and generated 1.2 million recommendations.
Users simply need to be signed in to their Booking.com account and have their language settings set to English, with the country set to Singapore to access the features of the new tool.
