Priceline unveiled 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 tool— including more than 30 new features to dramatically streamline the travel planning and booking process.
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 company estimates that travelers who used Penny saved an average of nearly 10 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.
For its winter release, Priceline's 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. Priceline is also introducing personalized GenAI itineraries within its iOS app.
"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," Priceline CEO Brett Keller said in a statement. "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 is introducing more than 30 new features and upgrades, 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.