Expedia Group is making strides in the artificial intelligence (AI) arena, utilizing OpenAI’s ChatGPT platform to enhance consumer travel planning experiences. At the Explore 23: Connect conference in Seattle, the company’s chairman, Barry Diller, was astounded by the speedy results of the AI platform, recalling how it provided a six-paragraph caricature of him and his wife, fashion icon Diane von Furstenberg. Since then, Expedia Group has rapidly integrated the technology into its existing app, allowing users to ask questions in natural language and get expert advice for their trips.
Expedia is looking to extend the power of AI beyond the consumer market, hoping to enable access to its AI and machine learning capabilities for other travel companies too. It has already enabled some AI-powered solutions like its Smart Shopping feature that has successfully increased upsells since its introduction in 2020. Expedia’s virtual assistant has also saved millions of hours of service time in one quarter, providing customers with quicker resolutions and improving satisfaction scores.
The AI initiatives of Expedia have attracted attention from external experts, such as Scott Galloway, a professor of marketing at New York University’s Stern School of Business. After tasking his 12-year-old with planning a trip to Istanbul using generative AI, Galloway concluded that it is the best choice for users’ travel experiences. He further advised Expedia, the pioneers of adaptable AI tools in the industry, to be louder about their efforts and launch marketing campaigns to capitalize on the opportunity.
Expedia Group is a travel technology company, founded in 1996, that provides travel and lodging services to consumers and businesses. It started with a web-based hotel booking platform, and after decades of strategic acquisitions and positioning itself strategically, the company now encompasses more than 30 brands with a presence in more than 70 countries.
Barry Diller is the executive chairman of Expedia Group, having assumed the role from its former CEO, Eric Blachford, in 2011. In addition to being a billionaire chairman of InterActiveCorp, an American internet and media business, Diller is also the co-founder of the fashion house Diane von Furstenberg, his wife of many decades. He has also served on Netflix’s Board of Directors since 2019.
