In a previous life, when Sue Peyer was director of quality for Cox Communications, part of her job was to monitor customer service calls. The company used Israeli software that turned the dialogue into text, so she could read the transcribed conversations in a Word document.

When ChatGPT came out, Peyer was curious to see how the technology had advanced and how this latest development in artificial intelligence (AI) could help her run her travel agency.

She understood that if she said “tell me all about Disney cruises” she would just get words, some of them incorrect. And she knew that ChatGPT uses data only up to 2021, so asking for the latest Disney news—or a good restaurant at a port—is a useless pursuit. She also understood the possibilities inherent in teaching the system to deliver the output she was looking for, for the things she was interested in learning about.

Right now, she’s working on a blog on river cruising for her website. Of course, as owner of Wandering Beagle Travel – Dream Vacations in Norcross, GA, she is pretty sure she knows more about river cruising than the anonymous contributors to ChatGPT. And anyway, she doesn’t need them to write content. She needs them to show her how to use the blog to attract new customers.

So she asked the system how she could improve her SEO, what her marketing plan should look like, how to best reach her target audience. Every time ChatGPT replied, she drilled down and asked for more details.

For SEO optimization, for example, she said, “Here are three phrases. Which is the best to use and why?” Chat GPT suggested “the best river cruises for vacation” because of its narrow scope, which would yield a higher SEO ranking. She replied, “Tell me more” —and “found myself having a chat messenger conversation with my computer.”

“It’s a great tool for learning about business topics,” she says. “And if you don’t have someone to help you write a marketing plan, it’s like having a free professional.”

For her SEO plan, for example, ChatGPT suggests:

1. Start by researching.
2. Use tools like Google to find the key words with the highest SEO.
3. For page optimization, it offers four examples of how to use header tags, how to create content. It says to consider guest posting, link building, participating in online forums, using Google Analytics to improve your performance.
4. It offers 25 different key words.

When it comes to writing, she only uses ChatGPT on Travefy, where she often adds little posts about top things to do at a given destination. While the data on the restaurants may be out of date, “I can ask, what are the food specialties in Passau? Then I can say tell me more about those sausages, what do they taste like? And I put that information into City Guides to make my quotes more robust.”

As for the future, “not everyone needs a travel advisor and not everyone is able to use artificial intelligence, but some will use it and use it well,” Peyer says. “There’s a place for everything. You just need to learn the language and be able to put it in a context that makes sense for you.”

More Opinions

Many travel advisors do use ChatGPT for writing, even if just for a first draft. Says Ashley Bennington, “I have used ChatGPT a few times to help me form an outline for emails. It was very helpful in explaining that I was going to start charging fees, for example. I used what it gave me as a framework and then edited it to make it more my own. I’m someone who struggles with writing, so being able to use programs like this to get the ball rolling has been great.”

Another, asking to speak anonymously, said she often uses it as a starting point for marketing materials or internal communications, which she often ghost-writes for her CEO.

Sherryann Charlton of Sherry Destinations Travel uses it for email sequences and blog posts, telling it, for example: “Write a detailed blog post about Dubai in a luxury tone. Then write 5 email sequences with a call to action. Then write FB and IG posts in a luxury tone with emojis and a call to action.” Or, “Write 5 captivating email subjects.”

Danielle Harvey, global VP and head of travel and hospitality strategy at Quantum Metric, a predictive analytics platform working with major travel brands like American Airlines, says applications like ChatGPT are not likely to replace travel advisors any time soon. “We’ve seen this resurgence in travel that comes from wanting to engage with people. The type of traveler who’s looking for that tailored personal experience isn’t going to get that from an itinerary compiled by artificial intelligence, at least at this early stage.”

A more likely use in the travel industry is for “day of travel, in-stay customer service,” she said, where a customer could bypass the front desk and concierge to ask for a dinner recommendation, for example. “I haven’t seen anybody running with it yet; everyone is kind of watching it to see where it goes.”

A Case Study: My Personal Experience

Having done this research, I was intrigued enough to try it out. So I went to https://chat.openai.com and asked how to get a lot of hits on this article. It said:

1. Use relevant and trending hashtags: Add popular and relevant hashtags to your post to make it discoverable by people who are interested in ChatGPT.
2. Share on social media: Share your post on social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, and tag ChatGPT’s official accounts or handles.
3. Utilize SEO: Use search engine optimization techniques such as keyword research, meta tags, and backlinks to optimize your post for search engines.
4. Engage with the community: Respond to comments and feedback on your post, and participate in online communities related to ChatGPT to increase visibility.
5. Collaborate with influencers: Collaborate with influencers who have a large following and are interested in ChatGPT to reach a wider audience.
6. Provide value: Ensure that your post provides value and is informative, entertaining, or thought-provoking, which will encourage people to share it with others.

I asked for more. It suggested, “Choose a catchy title.” And suggested:

1. “The Secret Weapon for Travel Agents: ChatGPT”
2. “Maximizing Efficiency in the Travel Industry with ChatGPT”
3. “ChatGPT: The Ultimate Assistant for Travel Agents”
4. “ChatGPT: Revolutionizing the Travel Agent Industry”
5. “How ChatGPT Can Boost Your Travel Agent Business”

Which is better, #3 or #5?

1. Both titles are effective and could work well for a story about ChatGPT’s benefits for travel agents. The choice between them ultimately depends on the specific content and focus of your story, as well as your target audience and the overall tone you want to convey.
2. Title #3, “ChatGPT: The Ultimate Assistant for Travel Agents”, emphasizes ChatGPT’s role as a powerful assistant and could appeal to readers who are looking for a comprehensive solution to help them manage their travel agency.
3. Title #5, “How ChatGPT Can Boost Your Travel Agent Business”, highlights the potential benefits and value of ChatGPT for travel agents and could appeal to readers who are interested in practical solutions for improving their business.
4. Consider which title aligns better with the focus and tone of your story, as well as which one you think would most effectively capture the attention of your intended audience.

Which is more SEO optimized?

1. Both title #3, “ChatGPT: The Ultimate Assistant for Travel Agents,” and title #5, “How ChatGPT Can Boost Your Travel Agent Business,” are SEO optimized in their own ways.
2. Title #3 includes the relevant keyword “travel agents” and emphasizes ChatGPT’s role as an assistant, which could help it rank well for search queries related to travel agent tools or software.
3. Title #5, on the other hand, includes the keyword “boost” and emphasizes the potential benefits of ChatGPT, which could help it rank well for search queries related to improving travel agent businesses.
4. Ultimately, the more important factor for SEO optimization is the overall content of the post, as well as any other optimization techniques used (such as including relevant keywords throughout the post, optimizing images, using internal and external links, and so on). Both titles can be effective for SEO optimization if the post is well-written and optimized in other ways.

I’m going with #3, because I think travel advisors are looking for assistants right now to handle the business they have rather than looking to grow their business.

So maybe a little human intelligence about the market is called for after all. In any event, I sure am glad I write about the news, where everything happens after 2021.

Cheryl’s 40-year career in journalism is bookended by roles in the travel industry, including Executive Editor of Business Travel News in the 1990s, and recently, Editor in Chief of Travel Market Report and admin of Cheryl Rosen’s Group for Travel Professionals, a news and support group on Facebook. As an independent contractor since retiring from the 9-to-5 to travel more, she has written regular articles about the life and business of travel agents for Luxury Travel Advisor, Travel Agent, and Insider Travel Report. She also writes and edits for professional publications in the financial services, business, and technology sectors.