Planning a holiday itinerary is set to become a more streamlined process for consumers globally, following a major distribution agreement.
Tourists will soon have the ability to secure their holiday activities without leaving their preferred accommodation platform, while also benefiting from emerging search technologies to plan their trips thanks to a new partnership between the Tripadvisor Group and the accommodation rental service Airbnb.
Scheduled for a public launch later this year, the collaboration means that consumers will be able to seamlessly browse and book a curated selection of tours, activities, and attractions directly through the Airbnb interface. Rather than navigating away to a separate provider, this integration allows holidaymakers to secure local experiences such as theme park wristbands, museum tours and zoo admission at the precise moment they arrange their accommodation, simplifying the overall consumer journey.
“Experiences are at the heart of great travel,” said Kristin Dorsett, GM of Experiences, Tripadvisor Group. “Helping travellers discover and book the world’s best things to do is our focus, and we’re proud to partner with Airbnb to bring the world’s best things to do to more travellers”.
Enhancing bookings with AI
Alongside this direct booking functionality, consumers are also gaining new ways to discover these activities using artificial intelligence. As of the 30th of July, Viator, the experiences marketplace owned by Tripadvisor Group, became the first connected application for travel experiences on Google Gemini and Gemini Spark. This integration allows users to discover and compare more than 425,000 excursions and activities directly within their chat conversations before clicking through to the Viator platform to finalise the booking.
To utilise the service, consumers must open the settings within Gemini or Gemini Spark, navigate to personal intelligence, and connect the Viator application under connected apps. Users can then tell the tool what they are looking for to receive tailored recommendations based on specific interests, such as whale watching in Iceland, food tours in Rome, or family-friendly activities in Tokyo.
The system uses Viator’s vast database of traveller reviews, ratings, and photos to inform the recommendations. Travellers can evaluate these photos, ratings, and prices directly in the conversation, refine their search with follow-up questions, and proceed to click through to Viator to complete their booking when ready.
By bringing Viator to Gemini, the company hopes to ensure that travel planning conversations are informed by real insights, making it easier for consumers to find and book the right experience. The Tripadvisor Group currently maintains the largest global catalogue of its kind, offering more than 425,000 experiences around the globe. Through its core brand, Viator, and thousands of additional partner storefronts, the wider platform assists tens of millions of travellers in discovering things to do, wherever they travel, each year.
