The Potential of Google’s Jarvis: A New Era for Travel Automation.

Being involved with an AI Incubator (Neural River) gives me access to bright young AI minds constantly monitoring new AI tools and developments.

Google’s new Jarvis AI tool for Chrome initially did not excite me as, in essence, it’s just an AI Driver “RPA Tool”. This is where a computer program can mimic the “key stokes” of a human being to complete a booking process.

These technologies have been in use for over a decade. In collaboration with the company 'Traverse,' I have automated various travel processes, such as booking verification and accounting reconciliation for low-cost carrier bookings, by extracting data from confirmation emails and matching it with back-office booking databases.

Once the team began experimenting with the tools, I quickly realised what a remarkable asset it was. Unlike RPA tools, which often fail whenever a webpage’s format changes, the new Jarvis tool utilises live website imagery and integrates information from multiple sources, achieving a nearly 98% success rate.

Airline XML fee wars.

Recently, I highlighted an ironic shift in the travel industry: Ryanair, by charging zero API fees, has unexpectedly become online travel agencies (OTAs) best friends after years of battling each other. Meanwhile, On the Beach (OTB) has intensified its war with EasyJet by offering a 'Self-Book and Save' option that allows a family of four to save £96. Through this scheme, post-booking OTB provides customers with a virtual credit card and a deep link, guiding them to book their flights directly on EasyJet's site. Though somewhat cumbersome, many customers accept it as a way of saving such a large amount.

 Google’s Jarvis tool could automate this process into a two-click procedure, removing 90% of the effort and potentially dooming API fees.

Comparison Engines.

Comparison engines such as Skyscanner and Icelolly direct traffic to supplier websites for booking completion. While this approach often maximises click-out revenue relative to acquisition costs, it significantly limits their ability to foster repeat bookings, as they lack visibility into customer data post-booking.

Leveraging Jarvis to complete bookings could soon encourage these platforms to adopt a model like Amazon’s, positioning themselves as the retailer. This would enable them to capitalise on cash flows while providing customers with a smoother, faster booking experience.

The pressure to implement this approach will intensify as AI-driven search engines, like www.Perplexity.ai (Try it), gain prominence, with customers increasingly valuing engines that provide direct 'answers' rather than a list of links. Naturally, these models will prefer connecting users to streamlined booking pathways that validate the best value. This suggests a comparison engine that allows customers to complete bookings directly on-site.

Homeworkers Co-pilots.

My AI-voice business, Neural Voice, is already working on Homeworker “Co-Pilot” tools to answer the phone and gather customer requirements out of hours or when they are busy with other tasks.

Research indicates that homeworkers spend 60% of their time on administrative tasks like booking flights online or entering bookings into back-office systems. By automating data loading via Chrome, we could reduce this workload by 75%, allowing homeworkers to focus more on providing a personalised booking experience for customers.

Although the same tools will make booking easier for customers, they will not replace the core function of travel homeworkers, which is providing expert human advice and guidance.

As I’ve often noted, it’s astonishing how slowly the travel industry has embraced the AI revolution. If you haven’t yet recruited a young AI-focused team, you may already be at risk of becoming a “Dinosaur” ready for extinction as the travel landscape rapidly evolves.