New York – Take a deep breath, travel advisors. There’s no escaping a future that includes AI and NDCs—so prepare to embrace it. You’ll be glad you did.
That was the message—or at least the focus of the news—at Global Travel Collection’s Elevate conference in Manhattan last week. In a year when sales are booming, time is short, and good assistants are impossible to find, GTC says it has the answer: A unique AI system it is building in partnership with Microsoft. And on the airline front, both American and Delta promise NDC will make booking air easy and profitable.
“AI is going to support you, it’s not going to take your job,” said GTC product management director Casey Soto—and he should know. He’s spent the past eight months working with Microsoft on his passion project, to develop an artificial intelligence product designed to meet the specific needs of travel advisors, “something that is AI and makes sense for you to use,” he told the crowd on a panel about AI.
To that end, Soto has been “going to every corner of our business looking for information on everything from contracts to contacts,” adding more than 340,000 data points “so you can ask it a question and it will answer in natural language.”
Already, AI systems for travel advisors can take information and generate the next step, such as answering simple questions in a client email, sending out an RFP for a group contract, generating sample white-glove itineraries or sorting through the travel insurance options to highlight the ones that make the most sense. On the corporate side, clients are using AI to ensure travelers are booking in accordance with corporate policies and using preferred suppliers. The goal is always to find efficiencies for the advisor and give you back more time to make human connections with clients.
GTC is rolling out a redesigned travel advisor portal that will include a free six-month trial of atlas.internova.com, “a knowledge base of everything in travel.” You can ask it anything,” from “Who, should I call for IT support?” to “How can I book air without a GDS?”
NDC is coming, “you have no choice”
Addressing the airlines’ new distribution capability (NDC), Delta’s NY managing director Scott Jordan said NDC “is the vehicle that transforms how we sell and service. It’s broader than how we connect, it’s how we evolve the ecosystem.”
Delta is not looking to disrupt the GDSs, “but we need to display a better product so you see it more clearly,” he said. By the end of the year, it will offer an NDC product “not to force people but to offer a choice.” its development is being overseen by Delta’s head of sales support, who is focused on “things to make your job easier.”
NDC “is the future; you have no choice” Peter Vlitas, EVP of Partner Relations at GTC parent Internova Travel Group, said. “We’re going to have to go down this path.” But it will be worth the effort, allowing travel advisors to rebook customers quickly and easily when something goes wrong—and equally important, allowing the airlines to offer unique fares to their top-tier customers, such as Internova.