The travel industry is a complex web of service providers, including airlines, hotels, rental services, travel management companies (TMCs), travel agencies (TAs) and booking systems. Within this network, travel agents play a key role in providing these services to clients.

While technology has revolutionized many aspects of the travel journey, from online booking and mobile apps to digital payments and real-time journey tracking - the role of human travel agents remains a core part of the industry, and barely digitalized. Travel agents manage complex itineraries, offer personalized support, and resolve unexpected issues, ensuring that every aspect of the trip runs seamlessly. Nonetheless, their involvement is costly for travel companies and often comes with time and accuracy inefficiencies. After the sharp decline in travel and staff downsizing during the Covid-19 pandemic, high demand has now returned and is putting pressure on the industry.

The challenges of travel agents in the modern industry

The hospitality and travel sector heavily relies on customer service to succeed. Quality service fosters loyalty and repeat bookings, which are more cost-effective than acquiring new clients.  

Therefore, investing in customer support is not only a necessity but a strategic decision. This focus is especially critical for business travel companies, or travel management companies (TMCs), which provide more tailored services and remain largely non-automated compared to leisure travel agencies. For TMCs, the combined cost of travel agents and outsourced services often exceeds 40% of the company’s revenue, as seen with American Express GBT, the largest TMC in the world. Similarly, Corporate Travel Management (CTM) increased headcount by 25% post-pandemic, with employee benefits now contributing to 59% of revenue. These high personnel costs leave TMCs with slim profit margins, often just 1-5% EBITDA.  

Even Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) face high personnel expenses. Booking Holdings (Booking.com), despite automation efficiencies, spends 28% of its revenue on staff. Combined with high marketing costs, these expenses significantly impact profitability.  

Expense stems not only from the numbers of agents but also from extensive training, which takes about six months due to the complexity of systems like Global Distribution Systems (GDS). These platforms, run by companies such as Amadeus, Apollo and Sabre, require detailed knowledge of codes and protocols, making training slow and limiting initial productivity. Even fully trained agents often struggle with cumbersome systems, leading to slow responses and frustrated clients.

Representation of the Global Distribution Systems value chain in a basic booking use case. The GDS connects various service providers to enable seamless booking processes:

For travellers, dealing with a travel agent can be frustrating, especially when quick resolutions are needed. Customer service teams often use multiple systems or applications simultaneously to respond and the process is often delayed due to the numerous layers of communication involved. These time-consuming interactions leave clients dissatisfied and companies questioning the efficiency of their travel management services.  

Additionally, the pandemic’s severe impact on the travel industry forced many companies to downsize, leading to a loss of experienced travel agents and customer service staff. As demand surged as the world reopened, the travel and hospitality industry faced the challenge of managing increased workloads with a smaller and less experienced workforce.

New and standardised technology for travel agents

To tackle the challenges faced by travel agents and their employers, particularly during a shortage of qualified staff (the average age of travel agents is 50 years old), technologies like all-in-one control towers are being adopted. These tools consolidate multiple layers and emails, but more needs to be streamlined for training to boost agent efficiency.  

The rise of large language models (LLMs) has the potential to revolutionize the travel industry. LLMs could distribute tasks to agents based on their expertise, provide a language translation overlay to let agents work in their native language and without needing to master GDS coding, reducing both training time and hiring costs. LLMs can also enhance daily operations with an AI ‘co-pilot', delivering instant and relevant information such as baggage policies or travel restrictions, ensuring faster responses for travellers.

Introducing Acai Travel (disclaimer: we have invested)

Acai Travel builds on this vision with AI-powered solutions to reinvent travel operations. Its centralised platform boosts agent efficiency, optimises travel call centres, and enhances the travel experience.  

Addressing post-Covid challenges such as system complexity and staff shortages, Acai Travel offers tools such as AI Helpers for fare rules and policies, GDS Overlay for simplified communication, and AI Translation to bridge language gaps. Additionally, Intelligent Routing matches travellers with the most suitable agent for their needs.

These features drastically streamline operations and cut costs for Acai Travel customers. For example, deploying agents in low-cost regions to handle global accounts in any language can reduce costs by up to 50% for large agencies. Acai Travel’s platform is already in use by leading global travel companies, including Kiwi.com, Lastminute.com, WorldTravel Inc., and Goway.

A future of efficiency and excellence

As the travel industry evolves, the integration of advanced technologies provides a clear path to overcoming some of its most persistent challenges. By reducing the costs and time associated with training travel agents, providing the flexibility to hire globally and by improving the speed and accuracy of customer support, LLMs promise to transform the way travel companies operate. The result might be a more efficient industry, capable of providing travellers with the seamless, high-quality experiences they desire.  

Alongside the B2B model that supports the role of travel agents, the proliferation of AI models being trained and rapidly re-trained is making it easier for customers to have seamless self-serve experiences. For example, OpenAI recently introduced Operator, a tool that can interact with browsers and complete tasks without needing custom API integrations. By interpreting screenshots and understanding web interfaces just like a customer would, Operator can book travel, make reservations, and even order groceries. Operator, like many other AI tools, is likely to be adopted both for B2C and B2B use cases.

For TMCs, OTAs, and other travel companies, embracing these innovations is not just a matter of staying competitive. It’s about embracing a future where technology and human expertise combine to deliver the seamless, high-quality experiences that travellers demand. With tools like AI Helpers, Intelligent Routing, and GDS Overlay, Acai Travel demonstrates how advanced technology can transform operations, simultaneously making the industry more efficient and customer focused. By leveraging these innovations, travel companies can ensure they are ready to meet the challenges and opportunities of the future.