The internet has long supplanted the live travel agent, and most people use it to plan their vacations or business trips. And there’s a lot of that happening: Americans spent $814 billion on domestic travel in 2015 alone, with most of those trips being planned online.
Most people visit an average of 38 websites while planning a trip. They book flights, look for information on places to visit or to stay, and so on. Many are also turning to mobile apps and messaging services, because an increasing number of people have grown up with texting and voice programs like Siri and are more comfortable using these services to get information in the first place.
According to Steve Hafner, the CEO of Kayak, this is the way of the future. He thinks that travel planning will increasingly move away form traditional websites, and over to artificial intelligence such as messaging services or chatbots that allow people to ask questions of a service such as Kayak.
Kayak, which is part of the Priceline brand, is a service for tracking down travel-relevant information. They’re also investing in artificial intelligence and investigating ways to further streamline travel.
Hafner thinks that this is a good thing, and that it’s in line with general trends in travel, which is toward consolidation. There are fewer airlines but more flights, fewer hotel companies but more rooms, and fewer travel agencies but those that exist have a broader reach. He sees this as benefiting consumers, but admits they are a work in progress.
“The services are pretty good. They need tuning over time. We’re reasonably smart about our answers, but they’ll just keep getting better,” he says.
The question remains whether artificial intelligence and consolidation will ultimately be good for travel consumers. There are those who are concerned about travel monopolies which in the future may drive travel prices higher rather than lower, as they are trending these days.