AI and Omnichannel Solutions Driving Growth in Global Travel (2025-2026)
Published on December 24, 2025
Why this matters for Customer Support
Travel is bouncing back, and support volume is rising with it. Leisure and luxury bookings are up, spend is healthy, and travelers expect quick, personalized help across every touchpoint.
Support teams sit at the center of that expectation. The winners will be those who connect AI, channels, and operations into one clean experience that cuts effort for the traveler and the agent.
AI is resetting traveler expectations
AI assistants now handle the busywork: fare lookups, seat changes, same-day rebooking, baggage updates, and policy checks. That frees agents to solve edge cases and build trust.
Predictive models adjust pricing and inventory in real time. Support needs clear playbooks to explain price changes, offer alternatives, and protect revenue without creating friction.
Practical use cases you can deploy now
- Pre-trip: automated visa/entry checks, fare alerts, ancillaries bundling (bags, seats, lounge), abandoned-booking recovery with personalized offers.
- Day-of-travel: proactive notifications for delays/gate changes, self-serve same-class rebooking, disruption triage with hotel/meal vouchers.
- In-hotel: mobile check-in/out, digital keys, room upgrades via chat, maintenance requests routed to the right team with status tracking.
- Post-trip: automated receipts, loyalty status nudges, targeted feedback flows tied to the actual itinerary.
Make omnichannel real (not a slogan)
Many T&H brands still split conversations by channel, which forces travelers to repeat themselves. Fix this by unifying identity, intent, and history so any agent can pick up the thread in seconds.
Start simple: keep one conversation record with email, app, web chat, WhatsApp, and phone transcripts stitched together. Add smart routing so VIPs and disruptions skip queues.
Recommended stack and workflow
- CRM/CDP as the customer record: profiles, consent, preferences, loyalty tier, past trips.
- CCaaS with true channel stitching: persistent threads, transcript search, and skills-based routing.
- AI assistant connected to your knowledge base and policies; retrieval grounded on approved content only.
- Automation layer: intents for top 20 contact reasons, with forms for rebooking, refunds, and name corrections.
- Proactive messaging: flight/hotel status, upgrade offers, and disruption options sent before the traveler asks.
Luxury and self-service change the frontline
High-spend guests expect speed, certainty, and flexible options. Give them VIP queues, concierge callbacks, and clear SLAs for changes and refunds.
Self-service should be first-class, not second-rate. Kiosks and apps must handle exceptions (multi-PNR trips, mixed payments, child/infant rules) and hand off to a human with full context when limits are hit.
Playbooks to roll out
- VIP support: priority routing, 60-120 second first response, empowered agents for fee waivers and goodwill credits.
- Disruption hub: one-click rebooking, auto-issued vouchers, re-accommodation rules by fare brand and loyalty tier.
- Refunds and credits: plain-language explanations, status tracker, and partial-refund logic visible to both bot and agent.
- Kiosk/app fallback: instant escalation to live chat or voice with prefilled context and last action taken.
Data, privacy, and trust
Personalization depends on consent and transparency. Store proof of opt-in, honor regional rules, and minimize exposed PII in transcripts and tickets.
- Mask card data and IDs; use vaulted tokens for payments.
- Log every AI action and suggestion; allow one-click agent overrides.
- Keep an audit trail for fare changes, voucher issuance, and policy exceptions.
Metrics that prove it's working
- Containment rate (automations that fully resolve) for top intents: check-in issues, rebooking, baggage, invoice requests.
- Time to first response and time to resolution by channel and customer segment.
- Agent handle time and after-call work; knowledge article usage and deflection.
- Rebooking save rate, refund-to-credit shift, ancillary conversion in support flows.
- CSAT by intent and disruption status; complaint rate per 1,000 passengers/room nights.
90-day rollout plan
- Days 1-30: map top 20 intents, unify IDs across channels, clean your knowledge base, write policy one-liners agents can quote.
- Days 31-60: launch AI assistant for FAQs and order status, add proactive alerts, enable VIP routing, pilot disruption playbook on one route or property set.
- Days 61-90: expand to rebooking/refunds with guardrails, connect loyalty data for personalized offers, add post-trip feedback that updates the KB.
Agent enablement
AI is best as a co-pilot. Give agents suggested replies with links to policy, live fare options, and refund calculations they can approve or edit.
Coach on empathy for disruptions, clear price explanations, and simple language. Short macros beat long scripts.
Further reading
Tourism demand and recovery trends: UNWTO Tourism Data. Aviation traffic outlook: IATA Statistics.
Upskill your support team
If you're building AI-assisted support for travel, these resources can help your team move faster:
Key takeaways for 2025-2026
- AI handles the repeatable work; agents win customer loyalty on edge cases and empathy.
- Omnichannel means one story per traveler, visible everywhere.
- Luxury and self-service can live together if routing, SLAs, and fallbacks are clear.
- Guardrails matter: consent, masking, audit trails, and human overrides.
- Track containment, speed, saves, and satisfaction by intent-then iterate.
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