Presented by: Skift + Publicis Sapient
At the Skift Data and AI Summit in New York City in June 2024, leaders from every corner of the travel industry took the stage to address some of the sector’s most pressing and exciting technology questions. Over the past 18 months, the hype around AI has spread rapidly. Yet, beneath the buzz, powerful use cases are emerging that promise to benefit travelers, strengthen travel partnerships, and drive revenue for travel brands.
Attendees at this year’s summit examined practical travel AI applications, discussed effective strategies for driving AI implementation and utilization, and explored examples of true innovation in the space.
In this Executive Focus Report, Skift partnered with Publicis Sapient to compile key insights, highlight memorable moments, and offer tangible takeaways from industry leaders in both travel and artificial intelligence.
A challenging marketplace combined with soaring consumer expectations means brands in the travel space have been facing significant challenges. The rise of generative AI has come at a good time. This rapid advancement means that, at the very least, basic implementation will soon become the industry minimum.
In truth, the companies destined to succeed are those that choose to go beyond traditional approaches to business transformation and technology modernization, incorporating generative AI into their underlying business models and existing workflows across the entire enterprise.
In the travel industry, we are seeing Gen AI leveraged in three core areas: improving customer experience, aiding in modernization of legacy systems, and accelerating the evolution of content supply chain and marketing automation.
Generative AI is a real opportunity to drive growth more effectively. It’s already helping with the work we’re doing to make simple, basic consumer experiences easier, more effective, and more efficient for both business and customer. Add a layer of seamlessness and efficiency to online experiences, and you propel guests and employees to their end goals faster. That, in turn, develops more loyalty and more revenue. Take our work in collaboration with Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy.
Together, we’ve created a transformative generative AI-powered search product designed to match travelers with the perfect home and destination based on a natural language search. Travelers tell us what kind of vacation they want in their own words, and are then presented with a curated list of properties from the 150,000 available vacation rentals on the Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy platform. This project showcases the opportunities generative AI can create for travel businesses like yours (and ours) not just in the future, but today.
Further, we are working across a range of businesses and industries, leveraging generative AI to materially accelerate modernization of legacy technology and systems—particularly mainframe systems—dramatically reducing costs of modernization. With that in mind, we hope you find this report useful, and that the insights shared help bring your own generative AI projects to fruition.
Nigel Vaz
Chief Executive Officer, Publicis Sapient
We’re all travelers in a digital world now. So it’s vital you stay competitive. Our generative AI-focused, data-driven approach gives travel brands the tools to thrive tomorrow. Transform today, and define your business journey—wherever you want to go.
publicissapient.com
The travel industry is at a crossroads. The rapid evolution of AI and data-driven technologies is transforming how we think about travel, how we plan it, and how we experience it. At the Skift Data and AI Summit, we heard from leaders who are not just adapting to these changes, but actively shaping the future of travel.
Drew Pinto: "We’re at a point where the technology is moving so fast, and the use cases are so broad, that it’s really about how you prioritize and how you focus. We’re trying to be very deliberate about where we invest, and how we scale."
Ed Vanga: "The travel industry is unique in that it’s both high-touch and high-tech. AI can help bridge that gap, but only if it’s implemented thoughtfully and with a clear understanding of the customer journey."
Matthias Keller, Chief Scientist & SVP, Technology, Kayak: "Personalization is the holy grail, but it’s also the hardest thing to get right. You need the right data, the right technology, and the right mindset."
Vivek Bhogaraju, Advisory Partner, Data & AI, Skift Advisory: "The travel industry is sitting on a goldmine of data, but the real value comes from turning that data into actionable insights. AI is the key to unlocking that value, but it requires a clear strategy, the right talent, and a willingness to experiment and learn."
Rajesh Naidu, Senior Vice President, Chief Architect, Expedia Group: "The biggest challenge is not the technology itself, but the organizational change that comes with it. You need to bring people along on the journey, and that requires clear communication, strong leadership, and a willingness to embrace new ways of working."
Andrei Papancea, CEO and Chief Product Officer, NLX: "AI is not a magic wand. It’s a tool. And like any tool, it’s only as good as the people using it and the problems you’re trying to solve. The key is to start with the customer, understand their needs, and work backwards from there."
"We’re using data and AI to better understand traveler behavior, to identify new opportunities, and to measure the impact of our marketing efforts. It’s about making smarter decisions, faster."
"The future of travel is about using data and AI to create a more seamless, personalized experience for our customers. That means breaking down silos, investing in the right technology, and building a culture of innovation."
Skift is the largest industry intelligence platform, providing media, insights, and marketing to key sectors in travel. Through news, research, conferences, exclusive interviews, strategic sector-focused newsletters, and more, Skift deciphers and defines the global trends that matter to the marketers, strategists, and technologists shaping the industry.
SkiftX is Skift’s in-house content marketing studio, working collaboratively with partners like Accor, Dubai Tourism, AWS, Expedia, Allianz Partners, and many more to help brands solve problems, create unforgettable moments, and communicate big ideas through content, research, and event activations.
Visit skift.com to learn more or email skiftx@skift.com.
Publicis Sapient is a leading global digital consultancy that helps enterprises like Goldman Sachs, Walmart, Nissan, McDonald’s, Disney, and Marriott—as well as a number of other international travel brands—transform digitally and sustain competitive advantage in an increasingly digital world. The company operates through its SPEED capabilities—Strategy, Product, Experience, Engineering, and Data & AI—to deliver meaningful impact by reimagining products and experiences. An agile, generative AI-focused, data-driven approach equips clients for change, putting digital at the core of how they think and what they do. Publicis Sapient is the digital business transformation hub of Publicis Groupe with 20,000 people and over 50 offices worldwide. For more information, visit: https://www.publicissapient.com.