18 | AI Powered Travel 14 different rate codes . And that does not include any offers the host or consortia partner may have on top, as well as credit card offers, and other variables . If this data is all integrated into the advisor’s system, they have a better opportunity of finding the best rate .” Having systems that communicate with each other seamlessly and efficiently is key . AI helps with this objective, operating in the background to find the best offer at any given time for advisors to pass along to their clients . Challenge #3: Managing Client Communications From Anywhere Another question that forward-thinking travel advisors should be asking is: “How can I communicate more, and more efficiently, with my customers?” In this regard, Koepf notes that “having mobile access is necessary in today’s marketplace, not only for advisors to be able to do business anywhere and anytime, but also to have an app that is available to the consumer in order to communicate back and forth in real time .” Challenge #4: Competing with OTAs and Big Retailers This challenge entails understanding how to compete with the Costcos, OTAs, and even some supplier partners that also sell direct to consumers . “The answers lie in the ability for advisors to have more efficiency to be able to spend more time communicating with customers, including the marketing side of the agency business,” relays Koepf . “Advisors need to communicate with customers, to get them excited, to impress upon them the value the advisor brings to the transaction . “As much as travel advisors are becoming more accepted and desired, there is still a large piece of the traveler business that does not know what a travel advisor does . An educational process is needed to explain what a travel advisor is, and then to show them how a particular agency is the best choice among all the advisors in the marketplace . The more an advisor can have a system behind them to build that messaging, and distribute it in the most effective media and format, the more AI can assist .” “What I’m most excited about is the evolution of AI, and in particular for the travel space and our advisors, the usage of AI chatbots. There are a lot of things that advisors have to do on a daily basis that are very detailed but also fairly repetitive. Some of the systems we have are relative to managing your tasks or keeping on top of sales goals. “In the future, we want to have a chatbot that acts as your digital assistant. So if you want to ask questions of the bot, whether it’s partner information, destination information, if you want to research a sailing based on having a client - a family of four looking to go to the Caribbean next June - they have these dates off and they’re looking for the best price. We want a bot to respond to that versus the traditional mechanism of filling out a form, and running through results, and sifting through a search. So my vision, particularly for Cruise Planners, is to leverage AI to be that true digital assistant. Something that takes all the minutia, all the tasks that are mundane, and makes it a lot more comprehensive and easier for the advisor to leverage. Because again, we want advisors to be spending their time working with their customers, planning vacations, doing all the things that earn them the most dollars. What we don’t want them doing is wasting a lot of time on mundane tasks that we can automate. That’s where I’m seeing a tremendous value.” – Brian Shultz, Chief Information Officer, Cruise Planners