With the rise of agentic artificial intelligence, the idea of letting an AI assistant book travel is becoming more normalized.
And the majority of business travelers claim they would be happy with that according to a new study from Amadeus Hospitality entitled “Travel Dreams.” The report revealed 54% of business travelers would be open to AI “‘making bookings for me.”
"Travelers are today looking for help in a variety of ways, including
‘showing me the best places for dinner at my destination’ (50%)
and ‘inspiration and helping me work out where to go’ (40%)," Amadeus Hospitality said.
"Both
possibilities were also welcomed by larger numbers of business
travelers, with 60% open to culinary recommendations and 51% looking
for help with where to go."
Amadeus Hospitality partnered with market insight specialist Opinium Research on the study and surveyed 6,000 travelers in the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, China, India and France during the fourth quarter of last year. The study also includes insights from interviews with industry executives from Amadeus, Lexis Hotels, Marcus Hotels, Flemings Hotels, The Trans Hotel Group and AXA Partners.
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Business travelers’ interest in using AI while traveling is just one of the many salient points brought up in the report, which dove further into business travelers’ technology interests, booking patterns and traveler data sharing preferences.
In general, business travelers seem to be looking for a more technology-forward experience.
The report found 71% of business travelers are interested in a self-service or online check-in option. In addition, 41% said they see AI as “part of an ideal future stay.” And 22% of business travelers said they wanted an option to pay with a digital wallet or with crypto in the future.
In terms of booking patterns, Amadeus found that online travel agencies “lead the booking channel race.”
More than two fifths, 41%, of leisure and business travelers said they prefer to make a hotel booking with an OTA. Meanwhile, 21% said they like to book directly through a website. Simplicity was cited as a decision driver in terms of booking habits - 47% of survey respondents said they selected a method based on what was “easiest to book.”
And, the study found that travelers are open to sharing their data, which helps travel companies with personalized offers marketing and dynamic pricing.
More than half of those surveyed said they would share personal data in exchange for a personalized deal. That statistic rose with business travelers specifically, 66% said they would be willing to share data in return for a personalized offer.
The wide-ranging report also delved into marketing, social media, travel insurance, leisure traveler preferences and other topics.