CWT is upgrading its digital messaging service for business travellers by using generative AI (artificial intelligence) to improve the TMC’s virtual assistant.
The company said that it would be improving its messaging interactions with travellers by using AI capabilities provided through Microsoft’s Azure OpenAI platform.
Travellers using the messaging service on the myCWT web-based and mobile apps can now “engage in a unique, unscripted conversation” with the AI-enhanced virtual assistant. If the virtual assistant cannot answer the traveller’s question then they are put through to a human travel consultant.
CWT has been testing the enhanced assistant through a pilot programme with a “small group of early adopters” and it has now been rolled out to customers in 56 countries. The TMC said the innovation had so far achieved traveller satisfaction scores of more than 90 per cent.
Erica Antony, CWT’s chief product officer, said: “Our messaging service has become the preferred support channel for many travellers around the world, and this latest enhancement will create an even better user experience.
“GenAI will speed up our ability to automate conversations in a powerful way, significantly reducing response times and allowing our travel counsellors to focus on more complex customer needs.”
The next stage of development in the next few months will see CWT using AI to provide live language translations within the messaging service so that travellers receive support in their preferred language.
Other enhancements include improving the virtual assistant’s ability to understand individual traveller’s preferences, travel patterns and any specific business requirements.
The impact of generative AI on business travel is one of the major developments included in BTN Europe’s 2024 Hotlist, which was published on Monday.