Dive Brief:

• HotelPlanner debuted a new loyalty program, called Hotel Buyers Club, integrated with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the hotel booking platform announced this week. 
• With the ChatGPT function, Hotel Buyers Club members can receive personalized recommendations and search and booking assistance. 
• HotelPlanner’s integration of ChatGPT — which comes just weeks after Expedia and Kayak announced partnerships with OpenAI — is already being used “hundreds” of times each day, according to HotelPlanner Chief Communications Officer Philip Ballard.

Dive Insight:

John Prince, co-founder and CIO of HotelPlanner, said in the release that the booking platform’s goal “has always been to stay ahead of the technology curve” and provide its customers with “the best possible hotel booking experience.”

That’s where ChatGPT comes in. As a component of HotelPlanner’s Hotel Buyers Club — which provides paid members with exclusive discounts on more than 1.4 million hotels and alternative accommodations globally, as well as “VIP-level” customer service and a bi-weekly newsletter — members receive “a new level of personalized and customized service that is nearly unmatched in the industry,” Prince said in the release.

The ChatGPT function is exclusive to the Hotel Buyers Club website, but nonmembers can use the technology up until the booking stage. After searching for and selecting a property, a ChatGPT-enabled search bar appears, where the user can ask property-specific questions like, “What are the amenities?” or, “What is the best restaurant nearby?” 

While the loyalty program and ChatGPT search function have only been live for about a week, the technology is being used hundreds of times each day by customers across the globe, Ballard said. 

According to Ballard, the ChatGPT-enabled search bar acts similar to a Google search, pulling public information rather than incorporating HotelPlanner’s internal booking data. This is different from how Expedia and Kayak use the technology.

The online travel giants partnered with OpenAI last month to integrate ChatGPT plugins, which allow users to start an open-ended conversation with a chatbot. The bot has access to Expedia’s and Kayak’s respective internal travel data from which it can provide trip itineraries, including flights and accommodations.