Travel technology business Amadeus has partnered with Microsoft and Accenture to streamline corporate travel booking through generative AI.
The partnership will develop AI-powered integrations between Amadeus's travel and expense platform Cytric Easy and Microsoft 365. Accenture is collaborating with Amadeus to create an AI travel assistant within Amadeus' Cytric Easy platform. The assistant will align travellers' preferences with employers' policies for a smoother and more cost-effective experience.
The generative AI-powered interactive assistant will utilise Microsoft technologies. These encompass GPT models from Azure Open AI Service, Microsoft 365 and Teams. These technologies will aid corporate travellers with aspects of their journey, from planning, booking and pre-departure to the post-trip experience. The chatbot will engage in a conversational style to ask users for clarifications and propose suggestions for the most appropriate travel or travel itinerary selections.
Rudy Daniello, Executive Vice President at Amadeus Cytric Solutions, commented:
The new Generative AI-powered chatbot will offer an enhanced way to book business travel, moving from a standard sequential display with predetermined filters to a dynamic, interactive conversational interface powered by ChatGPT. When fully realized, business travellers will be able to book trips with even greater ease, saving time."
Amadeus is also collaborating with Microsoft on a new plugin for Microsoft 365 Copilot. The Cytric Easy plugin for Microsoft 365 Copilot is currently in development. It attempts to make it simple for coworkers to align and book travel itineraries in a uniform workflow within Microsoft 365 using natural language prompts.
"We are at an extraordinary moment in the technology landscape, where AI is reshaping industries like travel and transforming how we work," said Feliz Montpellier, General Manager, Global Partners at Microsoft. "Through expanded integrations between Microsoft and Amadeus, we will create more value for corporations and much more personalised and productive experiences for travellers."
The partnership combines Amadeus' expertise in the travel ecosystem while leveraging Cytric's content and knowledge of the traveller and data on business booking policies and preferences. These new AI-powered tools intend to transform the corporate travel booking experience into a more intuitive offering, improving efficiency and employee satisfaction.
