Agoda officially announced the launch of its AI Assistant in 21 countries, including Thailand, marking a major transformation in the company's booking experience after more than 20 years. The AI aims to assist travelers from inspiration and trip planning to comparing options and booking services—all within a single conversation.
Omri Morgenstern, CEO of Agoda, said that currently, travelers’ planning remains fragmented, requiring them to switch among multiple apps and tools to manage a single trip.
He explained that Agoda’s AI Assistant was developed to understand each traveler’s preferences and trip details, reducing redundant steps and simplifying trip booking decisions.
Users can type their requests in natural language—for example, planning a 5-day family trip to Osaka—and receive recommendations on neighborhoods, restaurants, attractions, as well as searches for hotels and flights matching travel dates. The system remembers user preferences throughout the conversation, eliminating the need to restart searches.
A key feature is that the AI Assistant connects directly to Agoda’s booking system, displaying real-time prices and availability before allowing seamless booking within the platform. Additionally, the Trip Planner Canvas serves as a space to collect and manage bookings, points of interest, and undecided details, enabling travelers to view their entire trip overview on one page.
Agoda stated that behind its AI Assistant technology is OpenAI’s model, which powers conversation and comprehension of user needs, while recommendations for restaurants and attractions come from Gemini combined with Google Maps Grounding to pull up-to-date information such as reviews, photos, hours, and locations from Google Maps.
Simultaneously, the system can search various websites to assist planning, linked to Agoda’s extensive travel database covering over 6 million accommodations, more than 130,000 flight routes, and upwards of 300,000 activities.
Agoda also noted that initial feedback from beta testing since September shows users of the AI Assistant have an increased tendency to book multiple service types within the same trip—referred to as Connected Trip—including hotels, flights, attraction tickets, and tours.
The AI Assistant launch represents another step for Agoda in integrating AI to transform the travel experience from a self-service platform into a system that understands user needs and continuously manages travel—from initial ideas through to final bookings.
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