AI Travel Boom: Expedia Incorporates ChatGPT Into New App Feature – WSJ – The Wall Street Journal

Expedia is rolling out the ChatGPT feature to all iOS users on Tuesday. The feature will only be available in English. The company plans to roll the function out to Android users in the future, but doesn’t have a set time yet, a spokeswoman says.

The development comes after Expedia and rival Kayak recently announced plug-ins within OpenAI’s own ChatGPT app. Those plug-ins provide travel-related recommendations to people using the ChatGPT app and can redirect users to the companies’ respective websites to complete booking.

“ChatGPT is a search tool—it’s a new way of thinking, a new way of searching, a new way of experiencing,” Expedia Group Inc. Chief Executive Peter Kern said in an interview. “And we want to meet customers where they are.”

Expedia has previously implemented other pieces of AI technology across its platform. The online travel agency operates a customer-service chatbot to help travelers with any issues they encounter after booking. Additionally, Expedia’s price-tracking feature for flights is powered by AI and machine-learning technology.

Expanding capabilities

While OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Microsoft’s Bing can provide advice to users regarding vacation planning, their results can be inconsistent. In test queries conducted by The Wall Street Journal, the platforms sometimes offered incorrect information. They also didn’t provide an end-to-end experience—it wasn’t possible to book on the chat platform.

Mr. Kern says that on their own, natural-language search models such as ChatGPT will only get a traveler so far. If customers want to know exact details, such as flight prices or the types of rooms available at a hotel, they still need a service like Expedia, he says.

Expedia says its in-app ChatGPT tool will save any hotel recommendations it makes in the conversation automatically within the Trips section of the app. From there, users will have the option to book one of the recommendations. Eventually, the company plans to expand this feature to other reservations, including flights, rental cars and activities, says Rathi Murthy, Expedia’s chief technology officer.

Expedia’s ChatGPT feature allows for open-ended conversations, unlike other AI platforms, such as Bing, which limit the number of replies. Expedia says it has implemented some guardrails to prevent inappropriate discussions. The model underpinning the chat feature is designed to redirect the conversation back to travel-related topics if a user asks nontravel questions.

Mr. Kern says that users’ private data won’t be shared with OpenAI when they converse in the Expedia app, though that data might be used internally by Expedia over time to personalize the customer experience further.

AI spreading

Other players in the travel sector are experimenting with similar applications of OpenAI’s technology. Booking Holdings Inc. subsidiary Kayak is also exploring ways to use the technology, but has no product in the announcement pipeline currently, says Matthias Keller, Kayak’s chief scientist and senior vice president of technology.

Kayak’s plug-in within the ChatGPT app, like Expedia’s, enables people using ChatGPT to plan a trip to be linked directly to Kayak to make a booking. The advice generated through the app with the plug-in is based on a range of the data and offers Kayak has on its own site.

Beyond ChatGPT, Kayak has an array of AI technology already in place across its platform, including price-tracking tools and a feature that verifies photos submitted by hotels for listings to ensure accuracy.

“Basically every time you interact with any feature on Kayak, there’s some machine learning happening somewhere,” Mr. Keller says.

Write to Jacob Passy at jacob.passy@wsj.com