HBX Group has announced it is taking AI the travel industry to the next level.
The company behind the B2B travel technology marketplace, is optimising hotel distribution, improving customer service and facilitating real-time decision making through its integration of advanced AI models.
HBX Group already handles 20% of customer service contacts exclusively through AI in those areas where it has been implemented, reducing response times to seconds for the most common requests.
“AI is not the future, it is the present,” said Xabier Zabala, chief operations officer of HBX Group.
“Its impact on distribution and personalisation of the journey is already generating tangible results for our customers and partners. With this evolution, we are improving operational efficiency and offering a more agile service adapted to the needs of the market.”
To achieve this, the company has implemented multiple AI-based solutions that to address booking management, customer service and commercial management of its partners.
It has automated omnichannel customer service, content improvement, anomaly prediction and detection and is training new customer service agents with an AI tool that simulates interactions and assistance of customers’ needs.
This will allow teams to be trained in how to handle more complex cases and deliver higher-value interactions, demand prediction to efficiently manage resources, advanced itinerary personalisation, expansion of virtual assistants in multiple languages and automation of financial processes.
They seek to implement predictive AI that not only responds to customer needs, but anticipates them, improving user experience and operational management.
“With these initiatives, we reaffirm our commitment to technological innovation and the digital transformation of the tourism sector,” added Zabala.
“Consolidating our position as a benchmark in the application of artificial intelligence to optimise processes and improve the customer experience.”
The implementation of AI at HBX Group is accompanied by “rigorous” security and compliance protocols to ensure data protection and transparency in the use of these technologies, which is something its chief information officer, Paula Felsted, takes very seriously.
The firm said all solutions developed comply with international standards, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and other industry-relevant regulations and to avoid bias and ensure responsible use and operation, the company has developed a system of continuous auditing and monitoring.
This monitoring allows the performance of AI models to be evaluated, ensuring that recommendations and automations are interpretable, auditable and aligned with HBX Group values.
