With a major upgrade to Priceline's
proprietary GenAI assistant Penny and 30+ new features, Priceline
improves the travel experience with the industry's most
comprehensive set of AI tools
NORWALK,
Conn., Feb. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Priceline,
the pioneering travel innovator, today unveiled its Winter 2024
Product Release featuring a new generative AI-powered slate of
features, including major upgrades to Penny, its AI-powered travel
assistant. The latest additions to Priceline's Trip
Intelligence suite make it the travel industry's most
comprehensive array of AI tools – including more than 30 new
features to dramatically streamline the travel planning and booking
process.
Priceline's Trip Intelligence features
improve the travel experience with the industry's most
comprehensive set of AI tools
At a time when overwhelming choice and options mean consumers
spend an average of two full work days – 16 hours – on trip
research and booking,1 Priceline's smarter, faster, and
more proactive tools can significantly reduce the time a customer
spends on travel planning. The upgraded Trip Intelligence
suite builds upon six months of real-world conditions and
proprietary marketplace intelligence accumulated from Priceline's
millions of customers since the technology debuted in Priceline's
hotel category in June. The response has been overwhelmingly
positive; the company estimates that travelers who used Penny saved
an average of nearly ten minutes per trip compared to those who
called customer support. Priceline is now rolling out Penny across
all categories: hotel, flights, car rental and vacation
packages.
The enhanced Priceline Trip Intelligence suite debuts at
a time of changing consumer demands and behavior. More customers
seek ways to reduce the time and complexity in researching and
booking trips, and they're increasingly looking to AI to help them
solve these challenges. Priceline's study found that more than half
of travelers say they'd use AI tools to cut down on time, eliminate
hours of onerous research and secure the best deals. Of those
familiar with generative AI, the vast majority (73%) said they're
receptive to using generative AI and believe it will streamline
travel planning and booking. And further, 65% said it would make
traveling easier and more enjoyable.1
For its Winter Release, Priceline's dedicated team of AI
experts, prompt engineers, product developers and data scientists
built integrated technology atop Google Cloud's Vertex AI and
OpenAI's GPT-4 Turbo to significantly expand Penny's capabilities
and trip-planning impact sitewide. Penny can now save customers
precious time by planning and modifying their trips – whether they
need assistance with destination recommendations, finding the best
deal or accessing always-on, personalized customer service.
Priceline is also introducing personalized GenAI itineraries within
its iOS App. No need to do lengthy research making plans – the
upgraded App will now generate a suggested itinerary for you down
to dining and activity options for your stay. Other time-saving
features include a new wallet for organizing deals and coupons,
ways to enable customers to skip check-in lines, and more.
"After six months of expert, on-the-job training, Penny is ready
to deliver an even more cohesive and personalized booking
experience that saves people time and hassle," said Brett Keller, CEO, Priceline. "This is a
continuation of Priceline's tradition of revolutionizing travel
with pioneering technology. We began fully integrating generative
AI early last year, and our tools and features will only get better
as customers and partners engage with them more and more."
Priceline customers can expect to find over 30 new features and
upgrades starting today, including:
- Penny: Increasing its remit beyond the hotel
category to flights, car rentals and vacation packages, Penny, the
GenAI-powered travel assistant, is now ready to greet travelers on
the Priceline home page, taking them from inspiration through
planning, booking and even modifying their dream trip after they've
booked.
- Discover with Penny: Discover new destinations
directly from the Priceline home page, with Penny intelligently
suggesting relevant properties and travel packages reflecting
specific needs and personal travel styles as customers search for
the right match. For example, "suggest sunny and family-friendly
destinations within a three hour flight of NYC."
- Troubleshoot with Penny: Quickly modify
itineraries, connect with live help agents, check the status of a
refund, and access important travel information – available all in
one place by chatting with Penny.
- GenAI Itineraries: Leveraging GPT-4 Turbo,
Priceline iOS app users can automatically craft in-depth
itineraries for their entire trip, including can't-miss activities,
restaurants and nearby attractions.
- Priceline Wallet: A one-stop portfolio feature
enabling Priceline customers to save coupons, monitor expiration
dates, and track airline credits in a single location.
- Price Watch: To ensure customers never miss a
deal, they can now track desired flight itineraries (including
flexible options and multiple airports for fare comparison) in the
Priceline App, and receive prompt notifications when prices
change.
- Cabin Comparisons in Search: Results for all
domestic flight searches are enhanced with cabin and seat
comparisons, enabling customers to quickly evaluate cabin
attributes, pricing, upgrade options, and other enhancements.
- Skip the Counter and Online Rental Car Check-In:
Priceline customers can skip the rental car counter or
significantly reduce counter wait times by checking-in online ahead
of time with select partners.
- Multi-Passenger Cancellation and Rebooking:
Bypass speaking with an agent and rebook tickets for select
airlines for the whole family with airline credit, directly with
Priceline. (Coming Soon)
- Priceline App Experience: Major design
improvements implemented across all platforms, including overhauls
for iPad and Android. The inclusion of Trip Timeline also affords
users an at-a-glance view of all upcoming travel dates in one
place. Beginning in March iPhone users will receive Live Activity
updates on their lock screen containing useful real-time
information about their flights. Additionally, a new iOS
integration allows users to begin searching for hotel deals and car
rentals from the convenience of Spotlight Search.
- Offers in the PayPal App: Priceline has joined
forces with PayPal for the upcoming launch of their new offers
platform. Beginning later this year, Priceline expects to provide
personalized cash-back offers to consumers in the PayPal app for
use when purchasing their travel on Priceline and checking out with
PayPal – helping them get to their happy place for a happy
price.
Priceline continues to swiftly travel into new territories of
customer satisfaction, propelled by their data-driven,
technology-powered philosophy of innovation. With Penny's new
feature set and category defining Trip Intelligence
suite, Priceline promises to get their customers to their
happy place at a happy price even faster – and with more confidence
– than ever before.
"Booking with confidence and saving time are absolutely key for
our customers," said Kevin Heery,
Chief Product Officer. "Our expanded Trip Intelligence
suite will enable Priceline to further anticipate travelers' needs,
helping them book their trip with ease and peace of mind seamlessly
and faster than ever before."
To celebrate the launch of the new Trip Intelligence
features, Priceline is offering a 10% discount on Express
DealsⓇ, exclusively through Penny. Simply ask
Penny, "can you get me a deal?" to reveal the code and book by
February 27th to take advantage of
this special offer.
The new features are now live across Priceline. Customers can
experience the power of Penny and the broader GenAI-enhanced
Trip Intelligence suite by visiting
priceline.com/2024winterrelease. For additional press materials and
research highlights, visit press.priceline.com.
About Priceline
Priceline, part of Booking Holdings Inc. [NASDAQ: BKNG], has been a
leader in online travel for twenty-five years. Priceline's
proprietary deals technology pairs negotiation with innovation to
analyze billions of data points to generate deep discounts for
customers they can't find anywhere else. Travelers have access to
millions of hotels, flights, alternative accommodations, rental
cars, cruises, vacation packages and experiences from trusted
brands in over 116 countries around the world, 24/7 customer
service and incremental savings when becoming a Priceline VIP. By
making affordable travel within reach for all, Priceline helps
millions of customers each year be there for the moments that
matter to them. Because where your happy place meets your happy
price, that place is Priceline.
#BKNG_Corporate
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1Based on a
survey conducted online with The Harris Poll on behalf of Priceline
from January 24 – 26, 2024 amongst a nationally representative
sample of 3,024 U.S. adults ages 18 and older
|
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SOURCE Priceline