Agents are unconvinced by eDreams ODIGEO’s move to let customers book flights, hotels and car hire via Alexa+, with several questioning whether voice-activated bookings will be trusted.
The travel subscription platform’s members – expected to reach 13 million globally by March 2030 – can search for and book flights, hotels and car rentals via Amazon’s next-generation AI assistant.
It is being positioned as a ‘new shop window’ for travel, with bookings available on the eDreams, Opodo, GO Voyages and Travellink platforms.
EDreams said the collaboration is ‘opening a new channel for customers to plan their trips’, backed by ’round-the-clock’ customer support, but agents said some might worry about technical errors leading to incorrect bookings.
Wanderlux Luxury Travel Owner Sarah White said her own Alexa ‘randomly plays without being spoken to’, and expressed concern the same could happen with holidays.
“Imagine waking up to a holiday booked, like one of those £99 mystery holidays, but you didn’t even want to go and it costs a lot more then £99,” she said.
Middlesborough-based Seaside Travel agent Kev Watson was also unconvinced. He said Alexa+ struggles to play the radio on certain devices in his home, adding: “I wouldn’t be booking a holiday with her.”
Reigate Luxury Travel Director and founder Alexandra English added: “I’d love to see Alexa sort it out when something goes wrong.”
EDreams claims customers can tell Alexa+ what they’re looking for in a holiday and it will search eDreams ODIGEO and present options ‘within the natural conversation’.
Chief Technology Officer Carsten Bernhard said: “Every major technological shift in history has made travel bigger and easier to discover, book and enjoy.
“Conversational artificial intelligence is the latest of these waves and a powerful accelerator for our business. We are delighted to bring the world’s largest travel subscription platform to Alexa+.
“This collaboration takes our travel offering to a major new audience and allows customers to reach everything we do through a single conversation. Not long ago, planning a trip meant an evening lost across dozens of tabs. The next generation of travellers will never know that happened.”
Alexa+ is free to Amazon Prime members or costs £19.99 a month.
