InteleTravel is planning to introduce a high-functioning “AI virtual assistant” within the next 18 months, having recently soft-launched an early version in the UK.
Susan Petrillo, the homeworking group’s chief information officer, presented new tool ‘Jinn’ to delegates at the agency’s annual conference in Kraków, demonstrating functions including itinerary-building.
InteleTravel co-founder and chief executive James Ferrara said an enhanced “AI virtual assistant” would be rolled out from 2028.
You’ll ask it a question or ask
“You’ll ask it a question or ask it to do something for you, but you won’t have to navigate anything yourself anymore,” he said, adding: “It’s as if you went out and hired a very capable and very experienced assistant to help you run your business.”
Petrillo, who built Jinn alongside in-house colleagues, said the current version of the tool incorporates a “destination discovery” element, a quote and booking element and an itinerary builder.
It should be used as a “collaborative tool” with clients, she said.
The tool was first introduced in the US before being made available to UK agents more recently.
We did a soft-launch [in the UK]
“We did a soft-launch [in the UK] but now we’re pushing it and we’re going to have education on it,” Petrillo told Travel Weekly. “I keep encouraging people to play with it.”
She said the next version of the platform would be released next year and agents would then be able to have a “conversation” with Jinn, while “version three” would operate at the level outlined by Ferrara.
Petrillo added: “Getting into a conversational AI model is going to be most productive for [agents]. When you can ask the tool to do certain types of work, it will be a huge time-saver for the advisors.”
InteleTravel also introduced an AI chatbot in March
InteleTravel also introduced an AI chatbot in March called InteleJoe. The tool, located in agents’ back-office system, has operated 52,000 chat sessions since its launch, according to the agency.
Another new development, called RBS, reduces the need for agents to manually upload documents to their back-office system.
“We figured out how to get AI to read documents at theaid Petrillo. “The advantages are incredible – it’s a significant amount of reduced workload for the advisor.”
