Tripadvisor integrates OpenAI for travel planning

Tripadvisor – which bills itself as “the world’s largest travel guidance platform” - has added a new travel itinerary generator to its platform that integrates its data with OpenAI’s generative artificial intelligence technology.

The product, currently in public beta and accessible via desktop and mobile web to users in the United States, analyzes Tripadvisor’s more than one billion user-generated reviews and opinions to create day-by-day itineraries based on the user’s input of a destination, travel dates, who they are traveling with and the types of activities they are interested in.

“Tripadvisor was built on travelers helping travelers,” said Matt Goldberg, Tripadvisor’s president and CEO.

“By harnessing the power of generative AI, we can begin to fully unlock the potential of our platform’s unparalleled review and traveler intent data, allowing us to offer truly unique travel guidance to our members. This launch represents an important milestone in Tripadvisor’s strategy and is just one element of our plan to drive deeper engagement with travelers on our platform.”

Users can save, edit and share the itinerary. For now the tool is focused on surfacing experiences, attractions and dining recommendations, but a spokesperson said hotel recommendations and other updates will be coming in the near future.

In an interview on Center Stage at Phocuswright Europe in June, Tripadvisor chief growth officer John Boris hinted at the new tool, saying “We are also in the process of figuring out how we can leverage generative AI on a trip planning basis on our own website. We believe there are great possibilities.”

There are now many large travel sites and online travel agencies using generative AI on their platforms, beginning with Trip.com in February and with subsequent integrations from Expedia, Booking.com and Priceline.

In May during Tripadvisor’s call with financial analysts to discuss its Q1 earnings report, Goldberg fielded questions about whether the company was exploring generative AI. At the time, he said Tripadvisor had a “substantial team” working on generative AI integrations, but it was intentionally moving slowly rather than “chase the early headlines.”

And Boris reiterated that point, saying the company has not been in a rush to be first. 

“Brand and content and the underlying data, I think, is what’s going to be the key differentiator in this space because it will start to become anonymized and commoditized. We firmly believe that taking your time is and doing right is better than being the first to show up. We are taking a very deliberate approach to create the best product we can to really serve the needs of our travelers,” he said.

Tripadvisor plans to make the itinerary planner available in more markets and in its native app platform as the beta progresses. The company is also one of several travel brands developing plugins for ChatGPT.

Watch Boris’ full interview below.