Put Your Trip on Autopilot: Expedia Group Introduces New Innovations at EXPLORE to Take the Stress out of Travel and Enhance Partner Experience
Expedia Group announced over 40 new AI-driven travel features at its annual EXPLORE conference in Las Vegas. Key highlights include Romie, an AI travel assistant that helps with trip planning, booking, and real-time updates. Additionally, new e-commerce capabilities, such as Travel Shops, allow content creators to share and sell travel recommendations.
Expedia's Spring Product Release includes a personalized itinerary builder, self-service booking management, price and destination comparisons, and a revamped help center. For partners, new tools for fraud prevention, optimized distribution, and AI-powered guest experience insights have been introduced.
Expedia also revealed the world's leading travel media network, leveraging first-party travel data to offer advanced advertising solutions across multiple platforms.
- Introduction of Romie, an AI-powered travel assistant, enhancing user experience.
- Launch of Travel Shops, creating new revenue streams for content creators.
- New personalized itinerary builder for customized travel planning.
- Advanced fraud prevention tools to protect partners from financial losses.
- Revamped help center offering fast solutions via AI.
- Enhanced price and destination comparison tools for budget-friendly travel.
- Optimized distribution tools for hoteliers, improving inventory and pricing control.
- AI-powered guest review summaries, saving travelers time.
- Advertising partners benefit from in-house creative team and industry-leading tools.
- Global network and scale providing extensive reach for advertising campaigns.
- Potential complexity and learning curve for users adapting to new AI-driven features.
- Risk of over-reliance on AI, which may lead to issues if the technology fails.
- Fraud prevention tools may not be foolproof against evolving cyber threats.
- Initial limitations of the alpha version of Romie, which may not meet user expectations.
- Possible challenges for content creators in maximizing new e-commerce capabilities.
Insights
Expedia Group's introduction of their new AI assistant, Romie, represents a significant leap in the travel tech industry. Romie is designed to perform various tasks such as planning, shopping and booking and even responds when something goes wrong during a trip. The assistant becomes progressively intelligent, learning traveler preferences over time, which can be a game-changer for personalized travel experiences. This move leverages the growing trend of artificial intelligence in customer service, aiming to make the travel process smoother and more user-friendly.
One of the distinct advantages of Romie is its dynamic service capabilities. It monitors real-time changes such as weather disruptions and suggests alternatives, acting as a proactive assistant. This could drastically reduce the stress associated with unforeseen travel changes. Another important feature is the Group Chat Trip Planning, where Romie integrates into group chats, encapsulating modern communication trends. The integration can streamline the travel planning process for groups, which is often cumbersome.
For retail investors, this technological leap could indicate a robust future for Expedia in the travel tech space, potentially increasing user engagement and customer satisfaction. The only potential drawback is the reliance on AI, which may face challenges around privacy concerns and data security.
Expedia's 2024 Spring Product Release unveils over 40 new features aimed at enhancing both customer and partner experiences. Personalized itineraries and self-service booking management tools are set to significantly streamline the user experience, reducing the typical hassles associated with travel planning. Additionally, the new Price Comparison tool allows travelers to compare prices for hotels and flights, promoting budget-friendly travel. This feature could appeal to a broad customer base, particularly those who are cost-conscious.
From a market perspective, these innovations position Expedia as a forward-thinking leader in the travel industry. The focus on AI-driven solutions helps differentiate it from competitors by offering a more personalized and seamless travel experience. However, it's important to recognize potential risks, such as how well these features will be received by a diverse user base and whether they will perform reliably across different scenarios.
Moreover, the introduction of Travel Shops as a new e-commerce product offers a novel way for content creators to monetize their travel recommendations. This not only opens a new revenue stream for Expedia but also increases customer engagement by incorporating social media dynamics into the travel planning process.
Expedia's announcement of the world's leading travel media network is a groundbreaking development in the travel advertising space. By leveraging its first-party traveler intent and purchase data, Expedia aims to provide advertisers with unprecedented insights and targeting capabilities. The in-house creative team and industry-leading advertising tools like TravelAds will enable advertisers to create more actionable and shoppable campaigns, reaching highly relevant audiences across various platforms.
This approach can significantly improve conversion rates for advertising partners, making their investments more effective. The offsite capabilities extend the reach beyond Expedia's own platforms, allowing partners to meet potential travelers wherever they are online, such as on YouTube or connected TV. This type of strategic advertising could substantially increase Expedia's advertising revenue, providing a diversified income stream beyond traditional travel bookings.
However, the success of this initiative will depend on how well Expedia can maintain the balance between personalized advertising and user privacy. Overly intrusive ads might lead to customer dissatisfaction, which could counteract the benefits.
Romie, the AI-powered travel buddy you want to 'roam' the world with, is unveiled alongside 40+ new features in the 2024 Spring Release
Travel Shops open for business; new e-commerce product debuts as first shoppable storefront for content creators
Travel industry's leading advertising platform is announced with groundbreaking capabilities
Experience the full interactive Multichannel News Release here: https://www.multivu.com/players/English/9179056-expedia-group-introduces-new-innovations-at-explore/
"At Expedia Group, we embrace the transformative power of AI to create personalized travel experiences. Our long-standing investments in this space enable us to capitalize on the breathtaking pace of AI innovation, and today's Spring Release demonstrates our commitment to delivering innovative products and features that enhance the way people explore the world," said Ariane Gorin, CEO, Expedia Group.
ROMIE - YOUR 'ROAMING' AI BUDDY
Let's face it, we'd all love to have someone help us work out all the details of our trip based on our preferences. Travelers now have that option with Romie™, the travel industry's first AI assistant designed to 'roam' the world with you and have your back at every step of your trip.
Romie assists with planning, shopping, booking and even lends a hand when something unexpectedly changes during a trip — serving as your travel agent, concierge and personal assistant, all in one. Like the ideal travel companion, Romie gets progressively intelligent — learning who you are, remembering what type of trips you like, and even if you prefer Italian food and boutique hotels or an afternoon hiking through nature. The alpha version of the Romie experience is currently available on EG Labs™, a hub for experimental products:
- Group Chat Trip Planning: Invite Romie to join your SMS group chat and listen to your vacation plans. If you want some advice, just @Romie to get suggestions on where to go or what to do, like you would a travel agent.
- Smart Search: Ask Romie to summarize your group chat and bring what they learned about your trip straight into your Expedia shopping experience. Personalize your search even more by adding your own filters like rooftop views and early check-in to find your ideal hotel faster.
- Building Your Itinerary: Like any good concierge, your new AI buddy is eager to help you build your perfect trip. Romie can pull in travel information from your emails and suggest restaurants and activities near your hotel that they think you and your group will enjoy.
- Dynamic Service: You can rely on Romie to troubleshoot with you when things don't go as planned. Like the perfect personal assistant, Romie monitors weather changes or last-minute disruptions that may impact your plans and has alternative suggestions ready that are convenient for you.
- Intelligent Assistance: Throughout your trip, Romie updates your itinerary in real time so anyone in the group chat with FOMO can see what you're up to, and anyone that needs to pick you up from the airport can simply @Romie to check what time you land.
"We believe in re-imagining the traveler experience, and then using the latest in AI to bring it to life, and with Romie, we've done just that," said Rathi Murthy, CTO, Expedia Group. "We created an AI assistant with hyper personalization in mind so that travelers can choose when they want Romie's help on their own terms. Romie can assist throughout dreaming, planning and traveling or even when things don't go as planned, all while getting more intelligent as the traveler interacts."
2024 SPRING PRODUCT RELEASE
In our 2024 Spring Product Release, we leveraged the power of AI to eliminate confusion and stress for travelers across tasks like planning, booking management, and customer service. Trust us — we want to get you on the plane en route to your destination as fast as possible and free up some of your time to worry about what matters the most, making lasting memories.
Our travel partners, the cornerstone of our marketplace, can leverage our investments in AI and machine learning with new tools that safeguard their business, control rate integrity, and provide actionable insights on service.
Traveler Product Highlights:
- Personalized Itinerary Builder: For the first time, travelers can create customized itineraries for upcoming trips based on AI-generated recommendations tailored to your trip and saved items. Available this summer on the Expedia app in the
U.S. - Self-Service Booking Management: Navigate hassle-free changes, cancellations, and air credit redemption for your bookings directly in the app or on the web. Available this summer on Expedia and Hotels.com globally.
- Get Help Fast: Who actually reads the fine print? Thanks to our advancements in AI, travelers can find the solutions they need fast in our completely updated Help Center. Available now on Expedia and Hotels.com® in the
U.S. - Price Comparison: Travelers can now compare prices for hotels and flights across dates, so you can travel within your budget. Available this summer on Expedia and Hotels.com in the
U.S. - Destination Comparison: Sit back, relax and let our GenAI tools help you discover and compare new destinations worth visiting for you. Available this summer on Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo globally.
- Guest Review Summary: Save time sorting through thousands of reviews. Using GenAI technology, Expedia summarizes guest reviews upfront, so you don't have to.
Partner Product Highlights:
- Fraud Prevention as a Service (FPaaS): Our industry has lost over
$21 billion - Advertiser-Funded Loyalty: It's time our destination partners cash in on the loyalty game. And now they can by funding OneKeyCash™ for travelers booking hotels.
- Optimized Distribution for Hoteliers: Optimized Distribution is now available to regional chains and independent hotels, bringing properties more control over their inventory and pricing.
- Guest Experience: AI-powered insights identify recurring negative sentiments in reviews and deliver personalized recommendations to hosts to create a better experience for travelers.
- Seasonal Cancellation Policy: Have more control over your vacation rental with Vrbo's date-based cancellation policy, all from a single page.
OPEN FOR BUSINESS: SHOP INFLUENCER FAVORITES ON TRAVEL SHOPS
Travel Shops debut today as a new storefront, allowing creators to share and save their travel recommendations in one central place on the Expedia app — saving travelers from spending hours scrolling on social media to find past recommendations and new inspiration.
This new storefront allows content creators to earn commission, increase visibility and customize their own personalized space for travel content. Advertising partners will soon be able to spotlight destinations with shoppable links across our social channels or partner with handpicked travel influencers to sponsor a collection via their channels.
"We saw an opportunity to reinvent how consumers interact with travel content on social media platforms," said Jochen Koedijk, CMO, Expedia Group. "Travel Shops are a first-of-its-kind travel platform that bridges the gap between content creators and travelers, creating a central hub for curated travel recommendations and a seamless shopping experience. Travel Shops give creators the tools to build unique marketplaces, making it easy to share travel recommendations and providing a more personalized experience for travelers."
WORLD'S LEADING TRAVEL MEDIA NETWORK
Today at EXPLORE, we revealed the world's leading travel media network. Building on two decades of advertising experience from Expedia Group Media Solutions, the travel media network leverages our first-party traveler intent and purchase data, so advertising partners reach even more travelers across the purchase journey. Advertising partners benefit from:
- In-house Creative Team: Collaborate on inspiring, actionable and shoppable campaigns with our in-house creative team to reach highly relevant audiences across multiple platforms.
- Industry-Leading Advertising Tools: Target high-intent travelers with industry-leading onsite advertising tools such as TravelAds, connecting our travel audience to 200 booking sites in 70+ countries.
- Offsite Capabilities: Leverage our first-party travel intent data to meet travelers wherever they are online, such as YouTube and Connected TV.
- Global Network and Scale: Develop curated media campaigns with our expert media teams, using partnerships such as Netflix and Disney+, and tap into Expedia Group's vast B2B network of over 60,000 partners to extend global footprints to new markets and audiences.
"We've pioneered the travel retail media network model. Our robust, first-party data and network of industry-wide partnerships gives us the exclusive ability to translate traveler shopping behavior to actionable insights for our advertising partners," said Rob Torres, SVP, Expedia Group Media Solutions. "Our travel media network targets travelers at various touchpoints on the journey with highly relevant travel content, driving conversion. We've only just scratched the surface with building bespoke media campaigns for partners, I'm excited for what's to come."
EDITOR'S NOTE
- Partners can find more information at: partner.expediagroup.com/release
- Travelers can find more information at: expediagroup.com/release
- EG Labs™ can be accessed at: expediagroup.com/labs
Research Sources:
1 Research from global Edgar, Dunn & Company, on behalf of eNett.
About Expedia Group
Expedia Group, Inc. brands power travel for everyone, everywhere through our global platform. Driven by the core belief that travel is a force for good, we help people experience the world in new ways and build lasting connections. We provide industry-leading technology solutions to fuel partner growth and success, while facilitating memorable experiences for travelers. Our organization is made up of three pillars: Expedia Brands, housing all our consumer brands; Expedia Product & Technology, focused on the group's product and technical strategy and offerings; and Expedia for Business, consisting of business-to-business solutions and relationships throughout the travel ecosystem.
Expedia Group's three flagship consumer brands include: Expedia®, Hotels.com®, and Vrbo®. One Key™ is our comprehensive loyalty program that unifies Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo into one simple, flexible travel rewards experience. To enroll in One Key, download Expedia, Hotels.com and Vrbo mobile apps for free on iOS and Android devices. One Key is currently available in the
For more information, visit www.expediagroup.com. Follow us on Twitter @expediagroup and check out our LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/company/expedia.
© 2024 Expedia, Inc., an Expedia Group company. All rights reserved. Trademarks and logos are the property of their respective owners. CST: 2029030-50
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SOURCE Expedia Group
FAQ
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