how do travel agents use technology

6 Ways Travel Agents Can Use Technology for Seamless Client Experiences

• January 12, 2024
• Pickles Travel Network

In the fast-evolving landscape of the travel industry, staying ahead requires embracing the latest technologies. For travel agents, integrating cutting-edge tools and apps can significantly enhance client experiences, streamline the booking process, and boost overall efficiency. In this blog post, we will explore innovative ways travel agents can use technology to revolutionize their operations and ensure a seamless journey for their clients.

1. Online Booking Platforms

The rise of online booking platforms has transformed the way travel agents handle reservations. Platforms like Travelport, Amadeus, and Sabre empower agents with a vast array of options, real-time updates, and a user-friendly interface. These platforms not only simplify the booking process but also provide valuable insights into customer preferences, enabling agents to tailor their recommendations.

2. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Chatbots

AI-powered technologies and chatbots have become invaluable assets for travel agents. Implementing chatbots on websites or messaging platforms allows agents to engage with clients 24/7, answering queries, providing information, and even assisting in the booking process. AI algorithms can analyze customer behavior and preferences, offering personalized travel suggestions that align with individual tastes.

3. Virtual Reality (VR) for Virtual Tours

Immersive experiences are gaining traction in the travel industry, and virtual reality plays a pivotal role in providing clients with a sneak peek into their chosen destinations. Travel agents can leverage VR to offer virtual tours, allowing clients to explore accommodations, attractions, and local environments before making decisions. This not only enhances the client’s experience but also builds trust in the agent’s recommendations.

4. Mobile Apps for On-the-Go Convenience

Mobile applications tailored for travel agents provide a seamless way to manage bookings, communicate with clients, and access essential information while on the move. Apps like TripIt help organize itineraries, while Expensify simplifies expense management. Mobile apps ensure that travel agents can stay connected and productive, enhancing their ability to deliver top-notch services to clients.

5. Blockchain for Secure Transactions

Security is a top concern in the travel industry, and blockchain technology offers a solution to enhance the safety of financial transactions. By implementing blockchain, travel agents can ensure secure and transparent payment processes, reducing the risk of fraud and enhancing the overall trustworthiness of their services.

6. Augmented Reality (AR) for Enhanced Experiences

Augmented reality adds an extra layer of excitement to the travel experience. Travel agents can use AR apps to provide clients with interactive guides, historical information, and even language translation services. This not only enriches the overall journey but also positions the travel agent as a tech-savvy professional committed to delivering innovative solutions.

The Power of Partnership: Working with a Travel Host Agency

While individual travel agents can undoubtedly benefit from incorporating technology into their practices, another powerful avenue is partnering with a travel host agency. These agencies often serve as technological hubs, providing agents with advanced tools and systems that streamline operations and elevate client experiences.

Access to Comprehensive Booking Platforms

Travel host agencies often provide access to comprehensive booking platforms, offering a vast array of options and real-time updates. Agents working with these platforms can benefit from a centralized system that simplifies the booking process, making it more efficient and seamless.

Advanced CRM Systems

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems are pivotal for personalizing client interactions. Travel host agencies frequently invest in advanced CRM systems that enable agents to store client preferences, track interactions, and provide tailor-made recommendations, ensuring a more personalized and satisfying client experience.

Collaborative Technology Suites

Technology suites offered by travel host agencies facilitate collaboration among agents. These suites may include communication tools, file-sharing platforms, and project management systems, creating a cohesive environment for agents to work together efficiently, even if they are physically distant.

Marketing Automation Tools

Travel host agencies often deploy marketing automation tools that enable agents to reach a broader audience with personalized messages. These tools can automate email campaigns, social media posts, and other marketing efforts, allowing agents to focus more on serving their clients.

Training and Support

Keeping up with the latest technologies can be daunting, but travel host agencies typically offer ongoing training and support. This ensures that agents are well-versed in utilizing the technology at their disposal, maximizing its benefits for both their operations and client satisfaction.

By partnering with a travel host agency like Pickles Travel Network , travel agents not only gain access to cutting-edge technology but also benefit from a supportive ecosystem that enhances their overall efficiency and effectiveness. This collaborative approach allows agents to focus more on providing exceptional service to their clients while the host agency takes care of the technological backbone.

Incorporating the latest travel technologies is no longer an option but a necessity for travel agents looking to thrive in the modern era.

From online booking platforms to AI-powered chatbots to augmented reality, each tool offers unique advantages that can streamline processes, enhance customer experiences, and improve overall efficiency.

In the ongoing evolution of the travel industry, maintaining a competitive edge hinges on embracing technology. Staying attuned to the latest advancements and seamlessly integrating them into their workflow will empower travel agents to deliver the seamless, personalized experiences clients expect in today’s dynamic and tech-driven world. These are just a few of the ways travel agents can use technology to stay ahead of the curve and exceed client expectations.

Meet Pickles Travel Network: The Host Agency That Makes It Easy to Start and Scale Your Travel Business

Whether you’ve just started your travel agent journey, or you’ve been on it… Pickles Travel Network has the tools and resources to help grow your business. Unlike other host agencies, we believe in letting our members choose what works best for their business. Pickles Travel Network allows you to choose your commission rate, along with whether or not you want to charge planning fees. As a member, you’ll receive instant access to our list of suppliers, several marketing platforms and monthly coaching/trainings. 

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Supercharging Digital Transformation for Travel Agencies and Professionals

RateHawk + Skift

December 20th, 2023 at 10:00 AM EST

For travel agencies to navigate the next evolution of business-to-business travel booking, they need a forward-thinking technology partner that knows how to balance digital innovation with human expertise — especially in an industry known for its resistance to change.

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

The travel industry has been in recovery mode for the past few years, with overall global performance finally returning to 2019 levels in 2023 . Driven by a global wave of digital adoption, the online travel sector is growing even more quickly — according to Skift Research , online bookings will reach $666 billion by 2024, 26 percent above 2019 levels.

Although the worst days of the Covid-19 pandemic may be over, several challenges remain — including lingering supply chain issues, erratic fluctuations in demand, economic uncertainty, and new expectations around flexibility and safety. For the online travel sector, fragmented distribution is another persistent challenge, especially in Europe, where the underlying hotel supply is much less branded than in the U.S.

“To thrive in this unpredictable environment, travel agencies and travel management companies (TMCs) need to rethink their operations, reinvent their approach to digital transformation, and stay abreast of shifts in customer preferences, emerging destinations, and changes in industry regulations,” said Felix Shpilman, CEO of Emerging Travel Group, a Dubai-based company that has developed into a major global incremental distribution channel for hotels and chains.

Launched in 2010, Emerging Travel sources inventory to its own platforms — a collection of brands tailored to different audiences, including business-to-consumer users, travel professionals, and corporate travelers — as well as to other companies through API connections. Built for a business-to-business audience, its RateHawk brand is known for its robust technology platform that serves travel agencies and TMCs with user-friendly booking tools.

SkiftX spoke with Shpilman about the challenges facing travel agencies and professionals, the importance of balancing automation with the human touch, and how RateHawk differentiates itself through intuitive user-experience (UX) and user-interface (UI) design, combined with an extensive inventory of accommodations from numerous suppliers.

Navigating the Complexities of Today’s Booking Landscape

While the specific needs of leisure and business travel agencies, TMCs, and travel professionals looking for API booking solutions may be different, “they all earn a living through selling travel and deriving income from booking fees or commissions,” Shpilman said. “They need to continue surfacing relevant booking options with their customers in order to maintain profit margins.”

Surfacing relevant booking options with customers means managing constant fluctuations in pricing, promotions, and availability with real-time updates and synchronization across platforms. The evolving nature of travel preferences and the need for personalized experiences add to this complexity. The core challenge is that agents earn a modest percentage of the massive profits generated by the travel industry — and even before the disruptions caused by the pandemic, leisure travel agencies faced intense competition from business-to-consumer services that focused on discounting.

“Agents cannot compete with business-to-consumer services because of how the structure of the market works at face value,” Shpilman said. “The oligopolistic structure of airline companies further limits agents’ margins, particularly in the business travel segment. On the other hand, no business-to-consumer service has successfully replaced the role of leisure travel agents worldwide.”

This hyper-competitive landscape, coupled with the high cost of travel purchases, poses an enduring obstacle, but agencies should remember that customers will book wherever it’s most profitable and wherever they get the best service. Agencies can level up and provide outstanding service if they have the right digital tools in place.

How Technology Empowers Travel Agents and Professionals

Balancing human-to-human interaction with scaled-up technology services is a delicate act and a common problem across sectors today. In the travel industry, the human touch provided by travel agents remains indispensable, particularly in offering personalized assistance to clients.

There are concerns that a tech-first experience may remove the personal interaction that makes travel special — however, advanced technology can actually enhance the human touch. For example, generative artificial intelligence (AI) can concisely summarize conversations to reduce the time agents and managers spend taking and reviewing notes or sharing context when transferring contacts.

In other words, to paraphrase the sentiment expressed at Skift Global Forum in September , we’re not going to be replaced by AI — we’re going to be replaced by people who know how to use AI. Technology can evolve the role of travel agents, helping them compete with business-to-consumer services and freeing them up to make better and faster decisions.

“I don’t see a world where technology completely replaces the expertise of human travel agents,” Shpilman said. “Automated solutions powered by AI and machine learning will continue to improve, but AI will serve as a co-pilot, helping travelers book more easily and assisting agents to make better proposals. It’s a co-pilot on both sides of the transaction.”

Shpilman’s vision of a future where technology complements — rather than replaces — the expertise of travel agents aligns with the platform’s commitment to building functional and easy-to-use products for travel professionals.

“When we started building our business-to-business products in 2014, most travel agencies were still using text-based global distribution systems (GDS) to make travel bookings,” Shpilman said. “We saw a huge opportunity to reinvent the user interface and add the modern functionality agents need, so we applied our business-to-consumer knowledge toward improving the design and coupled it with an extensive inventory of accommodations from 220 active, optimized supplier connections. Combining this incredible under-the-hood tech with a beautiful platform interface is where RateHawk’s magic comes from.”

The RateHawk platform includes many innovative features that help travel agents conduct business more efficiently, including a Selection Tool designed to enhance service quality and client engagement by simplifying hotel selection and offering customizable templates, seamless booking processes, and branding options. Another feature, pay-by-link , allows agents to process payments directly with clients’ cards or via remote payment links, simplifying transactions and enabling business in various environments.

“These products are in high demand among travel agents, and we are constantly iterating and developing new tools to meet their needs,” Shpilman said.

RateHawk’s Rebranding Strategy and Future Outlook

Product innovation and differentiation, combined with overwhelming scale, can be a winning formula for success in the online travel sector. At World Travel Market in November, RateHawk announced a major rebranding initiative that encompasses an updated corporate identity, strategic reimagining, and the unveiling of a new logo.

“When RateHawk began as a startup, we lacked the budget and clarity to define our role in the business-to-business booking ecosystem,” Shpilman said. “Now, as we scale into new markets, this rebranding reflects how we see travel agents as unsung superheroes, overcoming challenges, navigating change, and exceeding expectations. We see ourselves as the agent’s friend and partner, and we wanted to communicate that more clearly.”

Looking ahead to an even more hyper-digitized and automated world, Shpilman believes travel will continue to be an expensive and complex purchase that requires human expertise and that there will always be a need for building functional tools that accommodate travel agents’ evolving needs.

“The travel tech sector is booming, but it hasn’t always been viewed as particularly glamorous,” Shpilman said. “But the development of digital technologies is reshaping the industry and making it more appealing. I love that I get to interview and hire a lot of young people around the world and get them excited about this dynamic industry — because we’re living in an immensely exciting time.”

Learn more about RateHawk’s business-to-business travel booking capabilities.

This content was created collaboratively by RateHawk and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX .

Have a confidential tip for Skift? Get in touch

Tags: booking , digital transformation , online travel agencies , SkiftX Showcase: Technology , the prompt , travel tech , travel technology

Travel Tech Revolution: 3 Experts Share Their Insights on How Tech Shapes Journeys

W e've gone from paper maps and written itineraries to instant technology at our fingertips in less than a decade. But is the tech revolution ruining our travel experiences?

It's true that more people are glued to their phones than ever, but is the convenience worth it? And are we safer with technology while traveling the world?

In this post, three tech experts share their insights into how technology shapes our journeys and what the future of travel might hold.

Personalized Travel Recommendations

The COVID-19 pandemic left the travel industry on its knees, and it underwent a serious transformation to regain its customer base.

Now, people want personalized travel recommendations, unique experiences, and effortless travel planning – all from the comfort of their homes.

Technology is making that possible with remote check-ins, travel guide apps, and 24-hour chatbots to engage travelers anywhere in the world.

These tools are widely used in various industries, from clothing fitting rooms to home interiors. But they are now beginning to make an appearance in the travel industry.

Museums, in particular, have opened their doors to online exhibitions, allowing you to visit them without ever leaving home. In the future, the same tech could allow you to visit the wonders of the world without being there in person, making "travel" more accessible.

But is VR a good replacement for the real thing? And will people even adopt the technology?

"In the gaming world, VR is already huge. The technology gives players immersive experiences, and about one in ten gamers already own a VR headset. Although augmented reality will never replace travel, it does make worldwide experiences far more accessible." – Michael Robery from GTA Boom

Smart Wearables

Technology is also creeping into our experiences during travel. There are already travel companies using smart wearable technology to improve customer engagement.

For example, Air Berlin has smartwatch boarding passes that display documents with a shake of the wrist and can be scanned the same as a digital boarding pass on a phone.

Of course, relying on digital boarding passes can result in difficulties, and many travelers still rely on paper backups. So, perhaps a fully digital check-in isn't quite here yet.

The Role of AI

There are different opportunities for AI to enter the travel sphere. AI-powered chatbots like ChatGBT can already give you personalized travel recommendations, activity lists, weather reports, hotel recommendations, and more based on your inquiries and past travel history.

AI can also help with language barriers. Any chatbot equipped with language translation can provide real-time communication with locals, helping travelers navigate with ease.

"The travel industry will undoubtedly be disrupted by AI. The technology significantly eases the process of travel research, and can even give real-time updates on travel delays, prices, and more to make the process of traveling much smoother." – Dr. Johns from Hackr

But what will advances in AI mean for travel agents? Will more reliance on technology remove the human element of our vacation plans?

Cybersecurity Concerns

When any industry begins to rely too heavily on technology, dangers arise when the technology fails. Technology has unquestionably made us safer while we travel, but we need to respect its limits if we want to retain the joy of traveling.

"Huge amounts of information are collected by travel agencies, meaning that increased cybersecurity measures are needed to handle the increase in reliance on technology. " – Taimur Ijlal from Netify

Although technology is making travel more convenient, it's also creating a digital divide. In remote or economically poor regions, people have less access to the internet or digital devices, creating inequalities in travel opportunities and access to the best deals.

Over-Tourism & The Environment

Many of our leaps forward in technology have been made to help the environment. With less reliance on paper boarding passes and other documents, it can feel as though technology is helping our planet, but is that the whole story?

With travel becoming more convenient than ever, we're experiencing over-tourism in the most popular destinations around the world. Places like  Venice, Barcelona, and Bali are swarmed by tourists each year, leading to overcrowding, stretching of resources, and loss of culture.

There's also the issue of the envrionmental impact of flights. In the US alone, there are around 45,000 flights handled by the FAA's Air Traffic Organization (ATO) every day – that's a massive contributor to our carbon footprint.

The Verdict

As we look to the future, it's clear that technology will play an ever-growing role in the travel industry. From augmented reality and smart wearables to AI-powered planning, the impact is undeniable.

But the technology revolution doesn't come without challenges. With concerns about safety, over-tourism, and the environment, it's important to strike the right balance between technology and authentic human interaction when planning our trips.

This article originally appeared on TheRoamWild and was syndicated by MediaFeed.

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The Future of the Travel Agency Industry

Will Travel Agents Exist in the Future?

Airbnb, Skyscanner, Uber. Three little words that have driven major disruption in the travel industry in recent years.

Travel agents have seen some of the most profound changes in modern business as new platforms have changed how travellers book domestic and international travel.

However, they didn’t emerge overnight or in isolation, reflecting a wider trend towards empowered consumers getting what they want, when they want it.

Yet demand for the travel agency model persists. And travel agencies who see digitalisation of their industry as an opportunity and empower themselves with the best ‘tools of the trade’ — and communicate their expertise and experience to those considering the D.I.Y. approach — continue to flourish.

The 'Do-It-Yourself' Travellers

Travellers are increasingly booking and organising their own flights, accommodation and transport. They can find and book Airbnb without leaving the couch, and online tools like Skyscanner allow them to search for deals, gauge layovers, and book complicated itineraries.

For travel agents, the likes of Airbnb represent consumers taking control of what was previously ‘left to the experts’. So why would today’s traveller enlist the services of a travel agent when they can find and book an affordable, well-located room?

Most would-be ‘do-it-yourselfers’ understand that organising any trip can be a major headache. These same empowered consumers recognise that perhaps their flight deals aren’t the best, their Airbnb hosts aren’t the most accommodating, and their preferred itineraries not the easiest to navigate.

And when business travellers become stranded in an overseas airport with a cancelled flight, a hotel room in a building that doesn’t seem to exist or an unexpected layover of 35 hours, they wish they had made different choices.

Are Travel Agents Worth It?

So what, then, is a travel agent’s selling point? Is it simply removing the inevitable human error associated with do-it-yourself bookings?

Travel agencies have always leveraged personal service as a selling point for their business, and personalised service still remains a drawcard for travel agents competing with online booking.

Travel agents collaborate with travellers to satisfy individual preferences and can leverage personal relationships with suppliers, like hotels and airlines, to deliver a better travel experience.

“If [travellers] book themselves, they’re just a credit card number. I make a point of knowing the general manager of the hotel where they might be staying,” says Anne Scully of McCabe World Travel. “I usually call the GM the night before one of my clients arrives and see if they might be upgraded. If they book with a good agent, they’re known on arrival.”

Technology in the Travel Industry

While technology has empowered consumers, travel agents today know that to compete with the digitalisation of consumer travel, the technology they employ also needs to evolve .

It’s no secret how complex business travel can be, especially when navigating unexpected changes to itineraries and strict corporate travel policies.

For corporate travellers, choosing not to enlist the help of an agent or a travel manager really isn’t a choice at all.

While consumers may have been empowered to achieve some of what agents can, they won’t be able to do so as quickly, as economically and accurately — and they’ll miss out on the benefits of those personal relationships with suppliers.

Streamlined travel management platforms allow agents to remove the guesswork of free online booking tools, and travel agents with access to a powerful management tool can offer a service that simply can’t be matched by the do-it-yourself approach.

Book a Demo with Locomote Today

Travel management software can empower your travel agency. Locomote is an end-to-end corporate travel system with a range of workflows and features that navigate the entire travel process in one powerful platform.

Locomote provides better travel experiences, more travel choice and improved travel intelligence.

To see how, book a personalised 15-minute online demonstration of Locomote’s corporate travel platform today.

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Tech-Charged Travel Agents Fuel Travel Recovery

Data analytics, cloud computing power a new generation of travel agents rebuilding travel and tourism after the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Jacob Gedetsis August 24, 2021

While they were stuck in quarantine and isolation, would-be travelers everywhere fantasized about the day when COVID-era travel restrictions would eventually be lifted.

Although the pandemic rages on, that time for many people has finally come. After all, closed borders are opening and vaccines are now a grateful reality. And yet, even the most “wanderlustful” travelers remain mired in uncertainty thanks to persisting confusion about COVID-19 protocols and bookings. They desperately want passport stamps – and peace of mind. Perhaps that’s why The Washington Post recently predicted that 2021 would be “the year of the travel agent.”

The COVID-19 pandemic ravaged the travel industry. After over a year of staying at home, however, the traveling public is anxious to get on the road again. The same travel industry that has been devastated by the coronavirus is now on the verge of a major comeback in the wake of it.

Global Rental Car Company Drives into the Future with Cloud Computing

Travel agencies have seen a bump in business as a result. Take travel agency network Viruoso , which says it has seen a 50% increase in the number of people seeking out travel advisers since January 2021.

“Advisers have always acted as advocates for their clients, and it was no more apparent than now,” Misty Belles, managing director of global public relations for Virtuoso, told The Washington Post .

But modern travel agencies aren’t like the ones you might remember from before the internet: fluorescent lights, drop ceilings, sun-faded brochures. Since then, they’ve undergone a major tech revolution. Newly powered by data analytics and cloud computing, they’re anxious to shed their old, stale reputation. As a result, the future of travel agents might be brighter than it’s ever been.

Embracing Uncertainty and Data

Lillian Rafson, founder and CEO of Pack Up + Go , is used to dealing with uncertainty. She built her company – an online travel agency that plans surprise trips for travelers to destinations across the United States – on the idea that travelers are, too.

“Our travelers come for the excitement of a surprise destination, but stay for the service because we are the ones dealing with all the stresses of travel,” Rafson says.

Travelers fill out a quick survey about their budget and the type of vacations that interest them. Pack Up + Go takes care of the rest. Travelers don’t even know where they’re going until the morning of their flight. Founded in 2015, when she was just 23, the bootstrap startup was “extremely low-tech,” according to Rafson, who says she knew the business had to scale its tech when she began accruing repeat customers and referrals.

“We’d been using a series of spreadsheets to manage all of our past travelers, and there was one day when it just became too much,” Rafson said. “We never wanted to send a traveler or their friend to the same destination twice. We needed to scale to ensure the best customer experience.”

Just before the pandemic, Pack Up + Go hired Pittsburgh-based software company Truefit to help it harness its data .

“We are really lucky that we have five and a half years of data [about] what our travelers loved about their trips based on their interests, their ages, things like that,” explained Rafson, whose team still plans travelers’ trips, but now relies on insights from customer data and technology to automate routine tasks like weather reporting.

“Now we can streamline our decision-making process, and we can take this data and use it to build partnerships with hotels and activity providers based on all that feedback,” Rafson said. “It’s a balance. We still want everything to feel like it has a human touch, but now we have the data to help back it up.”

Head in the Clouds

The travel industry has a trust problem.

So suggests a recent study of more than 10,000 travelers across the globe, only 46% of whom say they trust the travel industry.

Travelport, which conducted the study, says the sentiment reflects a gap between what consumers get when they’re making other types of purchases – personalization, relevance, convenience and price transparency – and what they get when they’re purchasing travel.

“Our industry has been slow to adapt,” Jen Catto, Travelport’s chief marketing officer, told PhocusWire in a June 2021 interview .

Will Cloud Computing Drive Public Transportation to Eco-Smart Future?

According to Catto, Travelport is working to regain travelers' trust by embracing technology and investing in a public cloud solution . The firm’s digital platform, Travelport+ , connects travel agencies with deals and data from travel service providers—e.g., airlines, hoteliers, car rental firms—to ensure a safe and stress-free trip, with fewer delays and cancellations.

In 2020, the company migrated to a public cloud to grow its portfolio of serverless solutions, which allows it to process streaming data four times more cost-efficiently than it had been able to do with its previous on-premise infrastructure. 

Like Travelport, IT teams across the travel industry are investing in cloud-based solutions to improve customer service and ensure smooth transitions back to travel for road warriors who were sidelined during the pandemic. 

“One of our main goals is to improve the customer experience. We want to get to know our customer better – what their wants and needs are, and how we can make them happy,” Diego Parra, director of the Houston Airport System’s IT program management office, said in an April 2021 interview with GovTech . 

“We’re constantly exploring how we can leverage technology to ensure they’re successful in traveling through the airport. As an industry, we want to make people feel safe and let them know they can travel again.”

In 2019, the Houston Airport System, which comprises Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental Airport, William P. Hobby Airport and Ellington Airport, welcomed more than 60 million passengers. But it lacked real-time data with which to understand aircraft taxi times, arrival and departure rates plus flight delays. During the pandemic, the company invested in a public cloud solution that has helped it streamline operations, make faster decisions and create a touchless passenger experience.

Prepare for Takeoff

Powered by data and the cloud , the travel industry is ready to make a comeback. From data analytics to ensure a safe trip to touchless ticketing at the airport, it’s investing in solutions to earn trust and entice weary travelers to set their sights once again on new adventures. At the center of it all: modern-day travel advisors, whose presumed extinction has given way to a new era of importance, appreciation and esteem.

Jacob Gedetsis is a contributing writer. His work has appeared in The Kansas City Star, The Post Standard and The Plain Dealer, among others. Find him on Twitter at @JacobGedetsis .

© 2021 Nutanix, Inc. All rights reserved. For additional legal information, please go here.

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6 Ways Travel Technology Is Improving Your Trip in 2024

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Table of Contents

1. Apps for booking hotels — and picking your room

2. smart devices as digital room keys, 3. the rise of virtual queues, 4. delivery apps to replace room service, 5. robotic and app-powered food delivery in airports, 6. the growth of app-powered car rentals.

These days, travel and technology go hand-in-hand. Many of these technological advancements were spurred by early pandemic pressure for contactless payments, food service and more. For example, between February and March 2020 alone, Mastercard saw the number of contactless payments at grocery stores grow twice as fast as non-contactless transactions. Meanwhile, the number of active restaurants on the Uber Eats food delivery app grew by over 75% between Dec. 31, 2019, and Dec. 31, 2020.

Technology is seeping into travel in a way that most travelers are finding enormously beneficial. Whether shortening queues, helping travelers save money or eliminating the need to get within six feet of others, here are some of the top travel technology evolutions to know about in 2024.

Most large hotel chains have long had free apps with features like booking and live chat, but many recently got big-time improvements.

Hilton launched a feature in June 2021 that lets you book and instantly confirm connecting rooms on its app and website, which has proven especially helpful for groups.

Its app also can display a map of the hotel and allow you to select your exact room of choice, whether it’s the peaceful room farthest from the elevator or the one nearby for easy access.

The Hilton app can be used to unlock rooms at many U.S. properties so you never need to go to the front desk to retrieve a physical key card. (Photo courtesy of Hilton)

Some apps serve as a digital front desk, which then allows you to use your smartphone and smartwatch as digital keys. For example, digital keys in Hyatt’s mobile app use Bluetooth technology to let you unlock your hotel room with your phone at more than 600 hotels worldwide.

Hyatt made things even easier for Apple users in December 2021 by becoming the first hotel brand to offer room keys in Apple Wallet. At certain Hyatt hotels, you no longer need to open the Hyatt app; instead you can tap your iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock rooms.

Over at Hilton, which has offered digital keys to some degree since 2015, last year saw a huge update in Digital Key Share, which allows more than one guest to have digital access. The feature is currently available at about 80% of Hilton’s hotels worldwide.

(Photo courtesy of Disney)

In January, Clear 2021, a private biometric screening company that lets paying members bypass certain security lines at busy areas including stadiums and airports, announced that it had acquired another company designed to reduce wait times — Whyline. The acquisition could allow Clear to improve virtual queues for processes like checking vaccine status or accessing airport lounges.

» Learn more: Is Clear worth the cost?

Meanwhile, Disney rolled out a feature in its U.S. theme park apps in October 2021 called Genie, which is intended to help vacationers better plan their day. By analyzing current lines and crowds, it can suggest more efficient itineraries.

Food delivery apps have been disrupting room service lately by delivering food from around town — and eliminating the need to pay $10 for a bowl of room service cereal.

Hotels are leaning into the idea of letting other companies handle it . For example, Hyatt launched a pilot program with snack delivery service Gopuff in 2021 to deliver prepackaged and hot meals to rooms at select Hyatt Place locations. Hyatt says the program has been successful, and has since grown to more properties nationwide.

(Photo courtesy of AtYourGate)

Speaking of food delivery, the days of waiting in long airport restaurant lines might be gone. Apps like AtYourGate allow you to order, pay and pick up food from participating airport restaurants.

More recently, AtYourGate is testing services where you don’t even need to physically grab your food. Instead, robots bring it to you. A pilot program that launched in September has robots roaming around Los Angeles International Airport, bringing food directly to your gate.

The rental car industry has sometimes been brutal to travelers, but peer-to-peer car-sharing alternatives are expanding, providing consumers with more choices.

Getaround cars can be booked on an hourly basis, and there’s no need to meet up with the owner to exchange keys. Cars are booked and unlocked through an app. Getaround expanded to Hawaii at the end of 2021, marking the 10th state that Getaround added to its portfolio in 2021 and the 22nd state in its history.

» Learn more: Rental car alternatives you might not know about

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Technology in travel agencies: 7 fundamental changes that impact the travel agent’s revenue

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The impact of technology on travel agents, including the availability of personal computers, cell phones and the Internet, has been significant. While many travel agents have had to change the way they do business, travel agencies are still thriving and providing important services to both leisure and business travelers.

Research and Booking

It wasn't until the 1980s that many businesses could afford to have in-house computers. Travel agencies were no exception. Travel agents relied on personal travel experience, attending industry events, reviewing brochures and developing personal relationships with vendors so they could make appropriate recommendations to customers. In addition, travel was often booked by phone or via fax.

Technological advances now permit travel agents to research, book and confirm travel online. Agents no longer need to maintain hard-copy files on clients, nor do they have to spend a lot of time collecting payments from clients and remitting balances to vendors. Booking, payments and confirmations can be managed quickly online and information can be sent via email to clients.

Travel Agent Education

Many travel vendors, including cruise lines and resorts, offer educational opportunities to travel agents. Historically this has come in the form of deeply discounted familiarization trips (also known as "Fam Trips") to popular destinations and resorts, educational presentations and classes at industry events, and the opportunity to inspect hotels, cruise ships and other travel products first-hand.

In recent years, however, travel vendors and industry associations have been able to provide online educational opportunities. These include continuing education programs that keep travel agents informed about industry laws, trends and technology, as well as programs offered by tourism boards and travel vendors that can help travel professionals become specialists in tourism hot spots and popular accommodations.

Home-Based Travel Agents 

While the concept of home-based travel agents isn't new, technology has made it much easier for travel professionals to work from home. Some home-based travel agents are independent, while others contract with host agencies. Technology has made it easier for home-based workers to consult with clients, research travel options and book travel products.

Competition From Travel Booking Websites

In the mid-1990s, the first online travel booking sites opened shop. In addition, well-known travel vendors began to accept online bookings for airfare, hotel stays, tours and packages directly from consumers. When consumers had the ability to research and book travel products directly, some travel agents went out of business while other agents saw new opportunities for success.

Travel research: Before the Internet, consumers often relied on travel agents' recommend destinations as well as cruise ships, hotels, restaurants and other attractions. Other sources for information included travel magazines, radio and television commercials, and printed travel guides.

Eventually, airlines, hotels and travel vendors began putting up their own websites, which contained information about travel products, including photographs, room dimensions, prices and package inclusions. As a result, many travelers no longer contacted a travel agent to learn about their travel options.

Price shopping: When consumers realized that they could find travel prices online, they began to comparison shop. In some cases, travel agents were expected to meet online price quotes.

Commission changes: The ease of booking airfare online or through electronic means resulted in the elimination or drastic reduction of airfare commissions. This change created a massive upset in the travel agency business, which relied on these commissions. The commissions for other travel products, such as hotel rooms and packages, also underwent sea changes. In recent years, some airlines have changed course and reinstated airfare commissions.

Travel agent fees: Prior to the late 1990s, most travel agents did not charge fees for their services. Instead, they earned money from commissions. Because of the elimination and reduction of commissions, some travel agents began charging fees for their services. These included booking fees for airline tickets as well as fees for performing travel research.

Online Reviews and Social Media

The advent of Web 2.0 in the mid-2000s resulted in another sea change for the travel industry. Social media, blogs and online discussion groups resulted in an unprecedented sharing of information between consumers. Individuals began sharing reviews of their travel experiences with others. As a result, travelers became more aware of destinations and what to expect.

Travel agents also began to make use of these tools by starting their own blogs, establishing social media profiles, and providing in-depth information about destinations via podcasts and YouTube productions. Agents used this content to build relationships with potential and current clients.

Reinvention of Services 

As fewer travelers approached travel agents to handle routine travel, some agents decided to reinvent themselves as travel specialists. These agents might seek to serve niche populations, such as travelers with disabilities, travelers over the age of 60, women traveling alone, or LGBTQ+ travelers. Others opted to specialize in specific destinations, group tours or types of travel, such as all-inclusive resorts or cruise lines.

By developing in-depth knowledge of these destinations, niches and travel products, as well as strong relationships with vendors, these travel agents have been able to create stable businesses catering to clients who need and rely on their expertise.

• The Guardian:How 25 years of the Web inspired the travel revolution
• Skift.com: The Definitive Oral History of Online Travel

Lainie Petersen is a full-time freelance writer living in Chicago. She has written on part-time, full-time and freelance employment for a variety of online and offline publications. She holds a master's degree in library and information science from Dominican University.

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The Impact of Technology on Travel Agencies

A century ago, a day like this, all a computer could do was book a flight for a client and keep that in records. Fast forward to present day and technology has opened doors to so much development in how things are in the travel agencies…unbelievable!

See also: Evolution of GDS (Global Distribution System)

Technology can improve everything we do, or make it much, much harder. It can be the travel agent’s best friend or make things ridiculously frustrating. With most package travel plans and cruises still booked through an agency, the impact of technology is felt on a daily basis. Not to mention (but we will) the use of the Internet by travelers, which has both a positive and a negative impact on travel agencies.

The high-speed Internet allows for fast communication with all of an agency’s travel partners, so booking a trip takes just minutes, not hours. Productivity is increased, customer satisfaction is improved, and partners receive reservations fast, so they can plan their staffing accordingly.

The downside of high-speed Internet is that customers are now acting as their own travel agents. Internet booking engines can do pricing comparisons in a matter of seconds, and travel plans for surrounding dates and locations can be checked quickly.

One additional challenge travel agencies now face is that some customers will do their research online first, then come book with an agent. Being able to address this modern-day consumer, requires some skill to recognize the existing knowledge of your customer and still enhance it all while completing their reservation. People love having an expert help sort out the complexities of multiple stops and multiple modes of transportation. It became imperative for traditional travel agencies to modify and alter their strategies in order to adapt and survive in the changing markets. The modern-day e-Commerce driven environment helps them enhance their personalization, content, and efficiency. More than half of the travel agents believe that despite all its problems, technology has actually proved to be a boon since it helps to influence the personal touch and manage travel transactions.

Despite constant pressure from third parties and direct vendors having more access to the modern day traveler, travel agency business is neither dead nor in the state of dying. In fact, travel agents are still responsible for almost 77% of the total cruise bookings, 55% of air travel bookings and 73% of travel package bookings . According to travel agents, the growth and advancements in technology have helped to enhance communication, convenience, productivity, the speed of business and marketing.

One of the biggest changes that technology seems to have induced is that travel agents can now keep in touch with their clientele using a variety of mediums (mobile devices are a must) at all times. Accessing all of the venues, airlines, hotels, etc. quickly, at any time, gets your customer the trip of their dreams and on their way.

See also: The Story behind Travelport Mobile Agent, a great mobile app dedicated to Travel Agents

Technology will always evolve, but the most successful travel agencies will be the ones that evolve along with it, instead of feeling forced out. The rise of the machine in the early 20th century left many feeling like they would be forced out of work, but as we now know, this was not the case. The same is true of technology – it should not be feared, but rather taken out for a drink and a negotiation meeting.

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Artificially Intelligent Help for Planning Your Summer Vacation

Travel-focused A.I. bots and more eco-friendly transportation options in online maps and search tools can help you quickly organize your seasonal getaway.

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By J. D. Biersdorfer

J.D. Biersdorfer has been using smartphone apps for travel since the summer of 2007.

The summer travel season starts in just a few weeks, but if you are looking for software that goes beyond simply booking flights and hotels, you’re in luck. Search engines enhanced by artificial intelligence can help with your research and outline full itineraries. Certain older apps have recently been updated to suggest more eco-friendly travel options. And keeping it all organized on your phone is easier than ever. Here’s an overview.

Using an A.I. Travel Agent

General-purpose A.I.-powered search tools and chatbots like Google’s Gemini spin up a list of things to do on your vacation when asked, but A.I. bots that are fine-tuned for travel queries are often more comprehensive. These bots scout destinations, plan itineraries, search for accommodations and flights, map out road trips and do more — grabbing a lot of information at once and saving you all that time-consuming web trawling.

Give the software your specifics — like destination, length of stay, interests — and see what it suggests. Many A.I. helpers are free to use if you sign up for an account, but some charge a subscription fee for premium services; your app store has specifics.

Layla , formerly Roam Around, is one of the free vacation-oriented A.I. helpers you can find online, and it has teamed up with travel sites that include Skyscanner , Get Your Guide and Booking.com . If you prefer land-based car and camper journeys, Roadtrippers (free trial; $60 year) includes real-time traffic and air-quality information along with route planning. And old stalwarts like Tripadvisor and Expedia are now using A.I.-generated vacation builders.

But as others have also noted, while A.I. travel planners have much potential, many are still works in progress and usually display disclaimers admitting so.

A.I. bots have been known to offer generic advice like “enjoy lunch at a local restaurant,” suggest activities that are out of season or too far apart, repeatedly recommend the same restaurant, consistently steer you to their advertisers or point you to locations that have closed. If you ask different bots the same question, you may get nearly identical suggestions, all scraped from the same tourism websites.

Still, A.I. travel apps are improving as they learn, and can be useful for the trip research and coordination phase. Just be sure to double-check the bot’s work before you commit to a plan.

Finding Earth-Friendly Options

There’s no shortage of apps for booking transportation to your destination. But if you want to keep the environment in mind, recent updates to Google’s Maps and Search apps now suggest routes and methods that lower your personal impact on the planet.

Google for the past few years has been pointing people to flights with lower carbon emissions , alternative train routes , fuel-efficient driving directions and eco-friendly hotels . It is now expanding its walking, biking and public transit suggestions alongside car routes in several major cities and adding more electric-vehicle charging information. Google Flights shows jet emissions estimates . Google Search has a “consider taking the train” nudge with rail routes and prices under certain flight results.

Apple’s Maps app also shows mass transit , walking and cycling options for getting around town, along with charge-friendly routes for electric vehicles . However, the default apps on your phone are not the only aids. Third-party software for directions and sustainable travel abound.

For example, Citymapper, which covers most major cities in the United States, Europe and Asia, includes environmental impact statistics on some trips. Its directions often include accessibility options that avoid stairways , along with routes for the fastest, cheapest or easiest way to get where you’re going; Citymapper is free with in-app purchases.

Other apps available for those seeking environmentally minded vacations include Bikemap for community-sourced cycling routes around the world, HappyCow for vegan and vegetarian travelers and Tap Hydration and Water Stations to locate sources for refilling reusable water bottles.

Keeping Organized

If you don’t already have software for consolidating your trip information, your phone’s default apps can help. Electronic boarding passes, hotel reservations and advance tickets can be quickly added to the digital wallet on your phone; a pragmatic paper backup tucked in your bag is insurance. Google and Apple offer to automatically add reservations and events from email and messages to your calendar .

Free services like TripIt (and its phone apps ), TripCase (also with Android or iOS apps) and Wanderlog automatically put all your travel information in one place, typically by scanning the information in your confirmation emails. TripIt Pro , a $50-a-year subscription version, adds more features like seat, fare and airline-points trackers, as well as international travel tools and regional risk alerts like those for extreme weather that can affect airline schedules and public safety .

A.I. bots and travel apps will continue to evolve and, hopefully, make vacation planning even easier in the future. Just don’t forget to occasionally put the phone down and enjoy your time off once you get there.

J.D. Biersdorfer has been writing about consumer technology for The Times since 1998. She also creates the weekly interactive literary quiz for the Book Review and occasionally contributes reviews. More about J. D. Biersdorfer

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Ilya Sutskever, the OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist who in November joined three other board members to force out Sam Altman before saying he regretted the move, is leaving the company .

OpenAI has unveiled a new version of its ChatGPT chatbot  that can receive and respond to voice commands, images and videos.

A bipartisan group of senators released a long-awaited legislative plan for A.I. , calling for billions in funding to propel U.S. leadership in the technology while offering few details on regulations.

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D’Youville University in Buffalo had an A.I. robot speak at its commencement . Not everyone was happy about it.

A new program, backed by Cornell Tech, M.I.T. and U.C.L.A., helps prepare lower-income, Latina and Black female computing majors  for A.I. careers.

Publishers have long worried that A.I.-generated answers on Google would drive readers away from their sites. They’re about to find out if those fears are warranted, our tech columnist writes .

A new category of apps promises to relieve parents of drudgery, with an assist from A.I.  But a family’s grunt work is more human, and valuable, than it seems.

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Main technology solutions planned to be implemented by travel agencies worldwide 2023

A 2023 global survey examined the main technology solutions planned to be implemented by leisure travel agencies over the next 12 months. New distribution capabilities (NDC) ranked as the main tech solution to be adopted in the coming year, as indicated by 40 percent of responents.

Main technology solutions planned to be implemented by leisure travel agencies worldwide in the next 12 months as of 4th quarter 2023

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senior leaders of leisure travel agencies that are involved in technology investment; figures refer to travel agencies that deal directly with the public and exclude online travel agencies (OTAs) and business travel agencies (BTAs)

The countries involved in the study included Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Mexico, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

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Should I Use a Travel Agent? Our Travel Expert Says It Makes All the Difference.

The new age of travel agents know how to find deals, book off-the-beaten path adventures, and get you out of any jam. Especially if you know who to use.

Heading out the door? Read this article on the Outside app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}'>Download the app .

I’ve always thought that planning my own trips was the most cost-effective way, but I’ve been hearing more about travel agents making a comeback and saving their clients a lot of money. What kinds of outdoor trips should I turn to a travel agent for, and are there any who specialize in working with adventurers like me?

Technically, I’m a professional traveler. As a journalist, it’s my job to research and connect with locals to get beneath the surface of a destination. So I have never really used travel agents. What could they plan better than I could?

A lot, it turns out. Over the years, I’ve gotten to know many travel specialists, and I consider them magicians. My big aha moment happened two winters ago on a trip to Iceland . A massive storm shut down internal flights for a day, causing me to miss my return flight to the U.S. Normally, I would have spent frustrating hours on hold with the airline. But because I’d paid $65 to have Ana Gloria Garcia, an air-support specialist at the travel agency EmbarkBeyond, find and book the most affordable and convenient flight option for me, she handled the rebookings while I soaked in the Blue Lagoon.

During the pandemic, agents became advocates helping travelers get refunds on canceled flights and trips. As travel has come roaring back, an agent’s superpower is now their access to the best hotel rooms, most in-the-know guides, free amenities, and more, says Cory Hagopian, senior vice president of sales and partnerships for Virtuoso , a global network of travel agencies.

And they’re attracting a young clientele. According to a recent industry survey , 38 percent of millennials and Gen Zers are opting to use travel agents as opposed to booking on their own trips. That number is far greater than Gen Xers and baby boomers, of whom only 12 and 2 percent respectively use agents.

What Do I Gain from Using a Travel Agent?

I recently had a friend tell me she spent close to 40 hours researching a family trip online. She probably could have gleaned the same intel from an hourlong conversation with a travel adviser. Knowledge is priceless, and advisers act as your insiders. They know what you don’t and fill in the blanks for things you might not have considered, says Erika Richter, a spokesperson for the American Society of Travel Advisors (ASTA). Their firsthand knowledge, vast network, and on-the-ground connections all combine to provide a unique perspective for crafting the perfect itinerary for you.

Most travel advisers specialize in certain regions and countries and travel to them frequently, so they have up-to-date intel on not only the best safari camps but the perfect tent to book for the most incredible views and the best local restaurants you won’t find on Tripadvisor. They want their client’s trips to go well to keep them coming back, so it’s in their interest to have sussed out hotels and itineraries before they send you out into the world.

Nicole Forster, 29, considers herself a savvy traveler. She’s been to 20-plus countries and enjoys destination research. But when it came to planning her honeymoon in Africa, she felt overwhelmed, so she reached out to Danielle Meyer at Coastline Travel Advisors , which specializes in bespoke itineraries. “Originally, I wanted to go to South Africa, Victoria Falls, and Madagascar,” Forster recalls. “Danielle convinced me that if we wanted to relax, we should stay in South Africa and save the other countries for separate trips.”

Over five phone conversations and multiple emails, they crafted a 15-night itinerary that included Cape Town, the winelands, the Cape Peninsula, and a safari at the Thornybush Game Reserve. Forster established her budget early in the process, and Meyer sent her a variety of lodge options to choose from.

“I initially wanted to start with the safari, but she pointed out that we’d be jet-lagged and would need to wake at sunrise for game drives,” says Forster. “The safari was our highlight, so it was a perfect way to end the trip.”

Not only did Meyer book all of the flights, hotels, and transfers, but she created a detailed, day-by-day trip app for the couple that included useful information like check-in times at hotels and how much to tip guides .

Agents also act as advocates. If something goes wrong during your travels, they’re on call 24/7 to handle it. When Forster left the battery and charger for her camera at a hotel, Meyer arranged for an on-the-ground contact to go to a camera store and buy new ones that would be delivered to her hotel the next day.

The cost for the honeymoon planning: $150 per person. “I wouldn’t use a planner for a trip to Hawaii ,” Forster says, “but if I ever took a big trip like this again, I’d 100 percent work with an expert.”  

When to Consider Using a Travel Agent

For savvy trip planners, the best time to use a travel agent is for complicated international travel. It can save you hours of planning and peace of mind that if anything goes wrong in your chosen far-flung destination, there’s someone a What’sApp message away to handle it.

Domestically, I’d consider using a travel agent when planning a multi-week national park trip or multi-island trip in Hawaii. They will save you time, guarantee you get the best guides, and help you land reservations at always-booked lodges and hotels.

Dream Trips Delivered

Jessica Cook and her husband both work in the travel industry. Decision fatigued, they handed their honeymoon logistics over to the team at Askari Travel , an agency that specializes in South Africa. Their original plan was also an African safari, but just as they were about to put a deposit down, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus made headlines. Worried about getting stuck abroad, they reached out to Askari’s founder, Muriel Truter, who is from Zimbabwe, and upon her advice, changed their focus to South America.

Knowledge is priceless, and advisers act as your insiders. They know what you don’t and fill in the blanks of things you might not even have considered.

Truter suggested they stick to Colombia rather than country-hop. Cook supplied a budget and a wish list: 12 days, no more than three destinations, a barefoot-luxe feel, and adventures like horseback riding and mountain biking. The rest was a surprise that Askari pretty much nailed, with the exception of one hotel.

“Everything felt so authentic, but this one hotel on Barú island felt really fabricated and was full of American tourists,” recalls Cook. She immediately messaged the Askari team, saying, “Hey, this place really isn’t our vibe,” and within an hour they were on a water taxi headed to Blue Apple, a B Corp hotel—and an Outside pick for tropical adventures —on Tierra Bomba island. “It was honestly the best trip we’ve ever taken,” she says.

Are Travel Agents Expensive?

It depends. Cost varies. Some travel agencies won’t charge any fee, as they receive a commission from the bookings, while some high-end agencies will charge pricey annual membership fees for their services. Still others charge nominal “professional” fees starting at $150. Fees often fluctuate based on the length and intricacy of a trip and how far out you do the planning (6 to 12 months is recommended). You may occasionally come across agents who charge a percentage of the total trip price or hourly rates.

Basic travel enquiries are generally free. In 2016, Leah Smith, founder of Tafari Travel , opened an old-school brick-and-mortar location in Denver’s Cherry Creek neighborhood so her services would feel less intimidating to first-time users. “With our retail-office location, we’ve become part of the community, and both clients and non-clients are welcome to pop in and ask whatever questions they may have, no charge,” she says.

Matt Lindsay, founder of the surf-guiding and travel company LuxSurf Travel , builds relationships with resorts and property owners to get discounted rates that he can then pass on to guests.

Dominic Allan, the founder of Real Latin America , specializes in travel to Belize and Nicaragua and caters to independent travelers who are happy to book their own flights and hotels but are seeking his local intel. Allan’s three-tier pricing structure starts at $300 for up to three hours of phone calls, during which he might weigh in on where to eat (or not to), the best room to request in a certain lodge, or whether you really need a guide to hike.

Value Versus Savings

If you’re just looking for deals and steals, you might not be ready to work with a travel adviser, says Richter of the ASTA. “Anything you invest in with a travel adviser comes back to you in the form of amenities, customer service, peace of mind, better access to unique experiences, and handcrafted itineraries,” she says. “You could save money by cutting your own hair, too, but most people go to someone who knows what they’re doing.”

Agents work with preferred partners who can guarantee perks for clients, such as free upgrades, early check-in or late check-out, and resort credits. Those add-ons often translate into savings, says Justin Huxter, cofounder of the UK-based Cartology Travel . “We had a client go to Maui for a week, and because of our partnership with the resort, breakfast was included,” he says. When breakfast costs $120 for two, that’s a savings of $840.”

Some of the Best Travel Agents in the Adventure World

Some of my go-to resources for finding a person to work with include travel expert Wendy Perrin’s annual Wow List of tried and trusted agents, the Adventure Travel Trade Association’s adviser network , and the ASTA’s advisor directory .

In addition to the agents mentioned throughout this story, others I highly recommend for adventurous travelers include:

• Dan Achber of Trufflepig , for Africa and the Middle East
• Miguel Cunant of Sri Lanka in Style
• Javier Echecopar of Journey Costa Rica
• Daniel Fraser of Smiling Albino , for Southeast Asia
• Elizabeth Gordon of Extraordinary Journeys , for Africa
• Kleon Howe of the Art of Travel , for French Polynesia
• Jay Johnson of Coastline Travel , for Hawaii and California
• Antonello Losito of Southern Visions Travel , for Puglia, Italy
• Rabia Malik of Fora Travel , for general worldwide travel
• Robyn Mark of Mayamaya Travel , for Africa, the Alps, Patagonia, and Japan
• Marisol Mosquera of Aracari , for Peru and Bolivia
• Zach Rabinor of Journey Mexico
• Raluca Spiac of Beyond Dracula , for Romania

Travel-advice columnist Jen Murphy is now a believer in using a travel agent. Thanks to their expertise and connections, she’s avoided dozens of trip catastrophes. 

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The promise and the reality of gen AI agents in the enterprise

The evolution of generative AI (gen AI) has opened the door to great opportunities across organizations, particularly regarding gen AI agents—AI-powered software entities that plan and perform tasks or aid humans by delivering specific services on their behalf. So far, adoption at scale across businesses has faced difficulties because of data quality, employee distrust, and cost of implementation. In addition, capabilities have raced ahead of leaders’ capacity to imagine how these agents could be used to transform work.

However, as gen AI technologies progress and the next-generation agents emerge, we expect more use cases to be unlocked, deployment costs to decrease, long-tail use cases to become economically viable, and more at-scale automation to take place across a wider range of enterprise processes, employee experiences, and customer interfaces. This evolution will demand investing in strong AI trust and risk management practices and policies as well as platforms for managing and monitoring agent-based systems.

In this interview, McKinsey Digital’s Barr Seitz speaks with senior partners Jorge Amar and Lari Hämäläinen and partner Nicolai von Bismarck to explore the evolution of gen AI agents and how companies can and should implement the technology, where the pools of value lie for the enterprise as a whole. They particularly explore what these developments mean for customer service.

Barr Seitz: What exactly is a gen AI agent?

Lari Hämäläinen: When we talk about gen AI agents, we mean software entities that can orchestrate complex workflows, coordinate activities among multiple agents, apply logic, and evaluate answers. These agents can help automate processes in organizations or augment workers and customers as they perform processes. This is valuable because it will not only help humans do their jobs better but also fully digitalize underlying processes and services.

For example, in customer services, recent developments in short- and long-term memory structures enable these agents to personalize interactions with external customers and internal users, and help human agents learn. All of this means that gen AI agents are getting much closer to becoming true virtual workers that can both augment and automate enterprise services in all areas of the business, from HR to finance to customer service. That means we’re well on our way to automating a wide range of tasks in many service functions while also improving service quality.

Barr Seitz: Where do you see the greatest value from gen AI agents?

Jorge Amar: We have estimated that gen AI enterprise use cases  could yield $2.6 trillion to $4.4 trillion annually in value across more than 60 use cases. 1 “ The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier ,” McKinsey, June 14, 2023. But how much of this value is realized as business growth and productivity will depend on how quickly enterprises can reimagine and truly transform work in priority domains—that is, user journeys, processes across an entire chain of activities, or a function.

Gen-AI-enabled agents hold the promise of accelerating the automation of a very long tail of workflows that would otherwise require inordinate amounts of resources to implement. And the potential extends even beyond these use cases: 60 to 70 percent of the work hours in today’s global economy could theoretically be automated by applying a wide variety of existing technology capabilities, including generative AI, but doing so will require a lot in terms of solutions development and enterprise adoption.

Consider customer service. Currently, the value of gen AI agents in the customer service environment is going to come either from a volume reduction or a reduction in average handling times. For example, in work we published earlier this year, we looked at 5,000 customer service agents using gen AI and found that issue resolution increased by 14 percent an hour, while time spent handling issues went down 9 percent. 2 “ The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier ,” McKinsey, June 14, 2023.

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The other area for value is agent training. Typically, we see that it takes somewhere between six to nine months for a new agent to perform at par with the level of more tenured peers. With this technology, we see that time come down to three months, in some cases, because new agents have at their disposal a vast library of interventions and scripts that have worked in other situations.

Over time, as gen AI agents become more proficient, I expect to see them improve customer satisfaction and generate revenue. By supporting human agents and working autonomously, for example, gen AI agents will be critical not just in helping customers with their immediate questions but also beyond, be that selling new services or addressing broader needs. As companies add more gen AI agents, costs are likely to come down, and this will open up a wider array of customer experience options for companies, such as offering more high-touch interactions with human agents as a premium service.

Barr Seitz: What are the opportunities you are already seeing with gen AI agents?

Jorge Amar: Customer care will be one of the first but definitely not the only function with at-scale AI agents. Over the past year, we have seen a lot of successful pilots with gen AI agents helping to improve customer service functions. For example, you could have a customer service agent who is on the phone with a customer and receives help in real time from a dedicated gen AI agent that is, for instance, recommending the best knowledge article to refer to or what the best next steps are for the conversation. The gen AI agent can also give coaching on behavioral elements, such as tone, empathy, and courtesy.

It used to be the case that dedicating an agent to an individual customer at each point of their sales journey was cost-prohibitive. But, as Lari noted, with the latest developments in gen AI agents, now you can do it.

Nicolai von Bismarck: It’s worth emphasizing that gen AI agents not only automate processes but also support human agents. One thing that gen AI agents are so good at, for example, is in helping customer service representatives get personalized coaching not only from a hard-skill perspective but also in soft skills like understanding the context of what is being said. We estimate that applying generative AI to customer care functions could increase productivity by between 30 to 45 percent. 3 “ The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier ,” McKinsey, June 14, 2023.

Jorge Amar: Yes, and in other cases, gen AI agents assist the customer directly. A digital sales assistant can assist the customer at every point in their decision journey by, for example, retrieving information or providing product specs or cost comparisons—and then remembering the context if the customer visits, leaves, and returns. As those capabilities grow, we can expect these gen AI agents to generate revenue through upselling.

[For more on how companies are using gen AI agents, see the sidebar, “A closer look at gen AI agents: The Lenovo experience.”]

Barr Seitz: Can you clarify why people should believe that gen AI agents are a real opportunity and not just another false technology promise?

A closer look at gen AI agents: The Lenovo experience

Three leaders at Lenovo —Solutions and Services Group chief technology officer Art Hu, COO and head of strategy Linda Yao, and Digital Workplace Solutions general manager Raghav Raghunathan—discuss with McKinsey senior partner Lari Hämäläinen and McKinsey Digital’s Barr Seitz how the company uses generative AI [gen AI] agents.

Barr Seitz: What existing gen AI agent applications has Lenovo been running and what sort of impact have you seen from them?

Arthur Hu: We’ve focused on two main areas. One is software engineering. It’s the low-hanging fruit to help our people enhance speed and quality of code production. Our people are already getting 10 percent improvements, and we’re seeing that increase to 15 percent as teams get better at using gen AI agents.

The second one is about support. We have hundreds of millions of interactions with our customers across online, chat, voice, and email. We’re applying LLM [large language model]-enhanced bots to address customer issues across the entire customer journey and are seeing some great improvements already. We believe it’s possible to address as much as 70 to 80 percent of all customer interactions without needing to pull in a human.

Linda Yao: With our gen AI agents helping support customer service, we’re seeing double-digit productivity gains on call handling time. And we’re seeing incredible gains in other places too. We’re finding that marketing teams, for example, are cutting the time it takes to create a great pitch book by 90 percent and also saving on agency fees.

Barr Seitz: How are you getting ready for a world of gen AI agents?

Linda Yao: I was working with our marketing and sales training teams just this morning as part of a program to develop a learning curriculum for our organization, our partners, and our key customers. We’re figuring out what learning should be at all levels of the business and for different roles.

Arthur Hu: On the tech side, employees need to understand what gen AI agents are and how they can help. It’s critical to be able to build trust or they’ll resist adopting it. In many ways, this is a demystification exercise.

Raghav Raghunathan: We see gen AI as a way to level the playing field in new areas. You don’t need a huge talent base now to compete. We’re investing in tools and workflows to allow us to deliver services with much lower labor intensity and better outcomes.

Barr Seitz: What sort of learning programs are you developing to upskill your people?

Linda Yao: The learning paths for managers, for example, focus on building up their technical acumen, understanding how to change their KPIs because team outputs are changing quickly. At the executive level, it’s about helping leaders develop a strong understanding of the tech so they can determine what’s a good use case to invest in, and which one isn’t.

Arthur Hu: We’ve found that as our software engineers learn how to work with gen AI agents, they go from basically just chatting with them for code snippets to developing much broader thinking and focus. They start to think about changing the software workflow, such as working with gen AI agents on ideation and other parts of the value chain.

Raghav Raghunathan: Gen AI provides an experiential learning capability that’s much more effective. They can prepare sales people for customer interactions or guide them during sales calls. This approach is having a much greater impact than previous learning approaches. It gives them a safe space to learn. They can practice their pitches ahead of time and learn through feedback in live situations.

Barr Seitz: How do you see the future of gen AI agents evolving?

Linda Yao: In our use cases to date, we’ve refined gen AI agents so they act as a good assistant. As we start improving the technology, gen AI agents will become more like deputies that human agents can deploy to do tasks. We’re hoping to see productivity improvements, but we expect this to be a big improvement for the employee experience. These are tasks people don’t want to do.

Arthur Hu: There are lots of opportunities, but one area we’re exploring is how to use gen AI to capture discussions and interactions, and feed the insights and outputs into our development pipeline. There are dozens of points in the customer interaction journey, which means we have tons of data to mine to understand complex intent and even autogenerate new knowledge to address issues.

Jorge Amar: These are still early days, of course, but the kinds of capabilities we’re seeing from gen AI agents are simply unprecedented. Unlike past technologies, for example, gen AI not only can theoretically handle the hundreds of millions of interactions between employees and customers across various channels but also can generate much higher-quality interactions, such as delivering personalized content. And we know that personalized service is a key driver of better customer service. There is a big opportunity here because we found in a survey of customer care executives we ran that less than 10 percent of respondents  in North America reported greater-than-expected satisfaction with their customer service performance. 4 “ Where is customer care in 2024? ,” McKinsey, March 12, 2024.

Lari Hämäläinen: Let me take the technology view. This is the first time where we have a technology that is fitted to the way humans interact and can be deployed at enterprise scale. Take, for example, the IVR [interactive voice response] experiences we’ve all suffered through on calls. That’s not how humans interact. Humans interact in an unstructured way, often with unspoken intent. And if you think about LLMs [large language models], they were basically created from their inception to handle unstructured data and interactions. In a sense, all the technologies we applied so far to places like customer service worked on the premise that the customer is calling with a very structured set of thoughts that fit predefined conceptions.

Barr Seitz: How has the gen AI agent landscape changed in the past 12 months?

Lari Hämäläinen: The development of gen AI has been extremely fast. In the early days of LLMs, some of their shortcomings, like hallucinations and relatively high processing costs, meant that models were used to generate pretty basic outputs, like providing expertise to humans or generating images. More complex options weren’t viable. For example, consider that in the case of an LLM with just 80 percent accuracy applied to a task with ten related steps, the cumulative accuracy rate would be just 11 percent.

Today, LLMs can be applied to a wider variety of use cases and more complex workflows because of multiple recent innovations. These include advances in the LLMs themselves in terms of their accuracy and capabilities, innovations in short- and long-term memory structures, developments in logic structures and answer evaluation, and frameworks to apply agents and models to complex workflows. LLMs can evaluate and correct “wrong” answers so that you can have much higher accuracy. With an experienced human in the loop to handle cases that are identified as tricky, then the joint human-plus-machine outcome can generate great quality and great productivity.

Finally, it’s worth mentioning that a lot of gen AI applications beyond chat have been custom-built in the past year by bringing different components together. What we are now seeing is the standardization and industrialization of frameworks to become closer to “packaged software.” This will speed up implementation and improve cost efficiency, making real-world applications even more viable, including addressing the long-tail use cases in enterprises.

Barr Seitz: What sorts of hurdles are you seeing in adopting the gen AI agent technology for customer service?

Nicolai von Bismarck: One big hurdle we’re seeing is building trust across the organization in gen AI agents. At one bank, for example, they knew they needed to cut down on wrong answers to build trust. So they created an architecture that checks for hallucinations. Only when the check confirms that the answer is correct is it released. And if the answer isn’t right, the chatbot would say that it cannot answer this question and try to rephrase it. The customer is then able to either get an answer to their question quickly or decide that they want to talk to a live agent. That’s really valuable, as we find that customers across all age groups — even Gen Z — still prefer live phone conversations for customer help and support. .

Jorge Amar: We are seeing very promising results, but these are in controlled environments with a small group of customers or agents. To scale these results, change management will be critical. That’s a big hurdle for organizations. It’s much broader than simply rolling out a new set of tools. Companies are going to need to rewire how functions work so they can get the full value from gen AI agents.

Take data, which needs to be in the right format and place for gen AI technologies to use them effectively. Almost 20 percent of most organizations, in fact, see data as the biggest challenge to capturing value with gen AI. 5 “ The state of AI in 2023: Generative AI’s breakout year ,” McKinsey, August 1, 2023. One example of this kind of issue could be a chatbot sourcing outdated information, like a policy that was used during COVID, in delivering an answer. The content might be right, but it’s hopelessly out of date. Companies are going to need to invest in cleaning and organizing their data.

In addition, companies need a real commitment to building AI trust and governance capabilities. These are the principles, policies, processes, and platforms that assure companies are not just compliant with fast-evolving regulations—as seen in the recent EU AI law and similar actions in many countries—but also able to keep the kinds of commitments that they make to customers and employees in terms of fairness and lack of bias. This will also require new learning, new levels of collaboration with legal and risk teams, and new technology to manage and monitor systems at scale.

Change needs to happen in other areas as well. Businesses will need to build extensive and tailored learning curricula for all levels of the customer service function—from managers who will need to create new KPIs and performance management protocols to frontline agents who will need to understand different ways to engage with both customers and gen AI agents.

The technology will need to evolve to be more flexible and develop a stronger life cycle capability to support gen AI tools, what we’d call MLOps [machine learning operations] or, increasingly, gen AI Ops. The operating model will need to support small teams working iteratively on new service capabilities. And adoption will require sustained effort and new incentives so that people learn to trust the tools and realize the benefits. This is particularly true with more tenured agents, who believe their own skills cannot be augmented or improved on with gen AI agents. For customer operations alone, we’re talking about a broad effort here, but with more than $400 billion of potential value from gen AI at stake, it’s worth it. 6 “ The economic potential of generative AI: The next productivity frontier ,” McKinsey, June 14, 2023.

Barr Seitz: Staying with customer service, how will gen AI agents help enterprises?

Jorge Amar: This is a great question, because we believe the immediate impact comes from augmenting the work that humans do even as broader automation happens. My belief is that gen AI agents can and will transform various corporate services and workflows. It will help us automate a lot of tasks that were not adding value while creating a better experience for both employees and customers. For example, corporate service centers will become more productive and have better outcomes and deliver better experiences.

In fact, we’re seeing this new technology help reduce employee attrition. As gen AI becomes more pervasive, we may see an emergence of more specialization in service work. Some companies and functions will lead adoption and become fully automated, and some may differentiate by building more high-touch interactions.

Nicolai von Bismarck: As an example, we’re seeing this idea in practice at one German company, which is implementing an AI-based learning and coaching engine. And they are already seeing a significant improvement in the employee experience as measured while they’re rolling this out, both from a supervisor and employee perspective, because the employees feel that they’re finally getting feedback that is relevant to them. They’re feeling valued, they’re progressing in their careers, and they’re also learning new skills such as, for instance, instead of taking just retention calls, they can now take sales calls. This experience is providing more variety in the work that people do and less dull repetition.

Lari Hämäläinen: Let me take a broader view. We had earlier modeled a midpoint scenario when 50 percent of today’s work activities could be automated to occur around 2055. But the technology is evolving so much more quickly than anyone had expected—just look at the capabilities of some LLMs that are approaching, and even surpassing, in certain cases, average human levels of proficiency. The innovations in generative AI have helped accelerate that midpoint scenario by about a decade. And it’s going to keep getting faster, so we can expect the adoption timeline to shrink even further. That’s a crucial development that every executive needs to understand.

Jorge Amar is a senior partner in McKinsey’s Miami office, Lari Hämäläinen is a senior partner in the Seattle office, and Nicolai von Bismarck is a partner in the Boston office. Barr Seitz is director of global publishing for McKinsey Digital and is based in the New York office.

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There's more to booking a cruise than picking your travel dates. Here's what to know.

Cruises could be considered one-stop shopping for travelers. With accommodations, transportation, food and entertainment all in one, they can help take the complications out of vacation planning.

But there’s more to booking a cruise than first-time passengers may realize.

From the wide range of lines to add-ons like drink packages and excursions that often cost extra, guests can face numerous decisions throughout the process. “There's like a pretty huge difference in booking a hotel upfront versus a cruise line,” said Andy Knowles, a luxury travel adviser affiliated with Fora Travel.

How far in advance should I book?

Booking well in advance will generally yield better rates, but travelers may also be able to find last-minute bargains if cruise lines are looking to fill space ( click here for USA TODAY’s guide to finding cruise deals).

“I'd say most of my clients are booking at least six months out in advance, if not more,” said Knowles.

Should I use a travel agent to book a cruise?

You can book a cruise without a travel agent, but there are some advantages to using one.

Alyssa Griffin, who makes videos about cruising with her husband, Cullen, on their YouTube channel, Griff & Alyssa , said they began working with an agent about five years ago.

“I don’t know why we didn’t get a travel agent sooner,” said Griffin, who has been on “at least” 60 cruises (she also worked as a travel agent briefly from 2018 to 2019).

Initially, she enjoyed coordinating trips on her own and found it easy, but she said consulting an agent “takes the stress out of planning, and they can help offer suggestions and things that you wouldn't necessarily think about.”

They can assist clients with determining which line, ship and destination may be the best fit. And if travelers run into an issue or have a question, their agent can handle it for them – a nice benefit given potentially long customer service phone line wait times.

“They can also get some cool perks, like onboard credit or some will put a bottle of wine or chocolate-covered strawberries in your room,” she added. Most also don’t charge clients for their services as they earn commission from cruise lines.

Knowles encouraged travelers to use an adviser who is an expert in the type of trip they are planning, whether a family vacation or a romantic getaway.

Many cruise lines also have in-house vacation planners who can help prospective guests navigate the booking process. Travelers may be able to find cheap rates on third-party booking sites (though some customers using those have had to jump through hoops when problems arise).

Should I book my flights through a cruise line?

Packages that bundle flights with a cruise are sometimes “very enticing and worth it,” according to Knowles, but they can come with some limitations. “I will say for the majority of cruise lines that you're booking flights through their platform, it just adds that third-party element that sometimes removes things from your control,” he said.

If travelers need to make changes, for instance, he said they would have to go through the cruise line. And while they may be able to list their general preferences, it’s not as easy to choose the exact seat they want on the plane.

Are cruises all inclusive?

That depends. Cruise line fares do include items that are often sold a la carte on land, and you can technically go an entire sailing without paying much more than the ticket price.

But many extras are not part of base fares on mainstream brands, ranging from alcoholic drinks to laundry, so you can rack up quite a few additional charges depending on your priorities. That's where packages come in handy, and higher stateroom categories often include more perks.

Luxury and river cruise lines also tend to bundle more in their base fares, though policies vary.

Do I need restaurant reservations?

Not necessarily. Mainstream cruise lines historically offered an early or late seating in their dining rooms, but many have introduced flexible mealtimes in recent years and often have a number of casual walk-up venues open for dinner as well. Some lines don’t have traditional dining rooms at all.

But if you want to eat at specialty restaurants, which typically come at an extra charge, you’ll likely want reservations. Passengers may be able to make a last-minute booking, but it’s worth doing before the cruise.

“I always recommend booking those ahead of time just to have something locked in,” Knowles said. Reservations typically open 30 to 60 days before departure.

If guests change their mind, it’s fairly simple to make changes “so you’re not necessarily locked into one spot.” They can typically do so via the cruise line’s app.

The newer, the better: What to know about taking a cruise with a mobility device

When should I book excursions?

The same goes for excursions. “I always point folks towards, if there’s one specific tour that (clients are) like, ‘This is something that we absolutely want and need to do,’ that it's always best to book that as far out as you can, just to make sure that you have it available,” Knowles said.

That said, cruise lines typically offer “a pretty large handful of experiences in each location,” and he hasn’t had any clients board to find all the excursions sold out.

Are tips included in my cruise fare?

Mainstream cruise lines charge passengers for gratuities on a per person, per day basis. The cost is automatically added to their onboard account, and passengers can generally adjust them before disembarking.

Passengers can also pay their gratuities in advance. Many higher-end lines include tips in the fare automatically.

Should I prepay for extras?

Guests can buy add-ons like Wi-Fi or drink packages during the cruise, but they may be sold at a cheaper rate ahead of time. Knowles said there is typically “going to be some incentive to booking beforehand.”

“So, if you were booking a bar package, something that might be $250 on board, you'll pay maybe $200 up front for,” he said. If you know you want to book one at some point, he recommended pulling the trigger sooner than later.

Griffin echoed that, and said the convenience is also nice. “I am one to just want to get on the ship and not worry about how much money I’m spending once I get there,” she said. “So, if you've already established all those things ahead of time, it feels more like an all-inclusive vacation.”

Nathan Diller is a consumer travel reporter for USA TODAY based in Nashville. You can reach him at [email protected].