ARTICLE

Will AI Make TMCs obsolete?

Process & Details

Identified a topic that would interest our audience based on an earlier panel session Q&A.
Talked with the CEO about how he'd like to expand upon his initial response, and asked him questions that would lead to a deeper understanding of AI and how Acai can help our TMC customers.
Based on my brief "interview" with the CEO, ghostwrote this article in his voice.
Worked directly with our partners on submission.

Full Article

Will AI make TMC's obsolete?

Last month, I had the honor of speaking on the AI panel at GlobalStar's latest conference in Bucharest, Romania. One interesting question came from the audience: Will TMCs become a commodity with AI and automation?

My brief response was no. AI will only shift what differentiates one TMC from another to a higher level.

Customer expectations will increase as they experience faster, more accurate service across other industries. That means, for instance, they won't tolerate more than three minutes to change a ticket, which today takes up to 30 minutes. They also won't tolerate agents who seem to have incorrect information, as they'll be using LLMs like ChatGPT to do their own research.

Today's differentiation will be about how agents and TMCs work faster and smarter. All of this is underpinned by how well and how early TMCs integrate AI with all of their systems.

So what can TMCs do?

Start by optimizing your operations. With shrinking margins and more TMCs using AI, it's important to embrace this new reality and stay competitive.

LLMs are revolutionizing travel call centers and these use cases will become the norm:

AI that understands fare rules and performs changes and cancellations
AI that helps agents with policies, standard operating procedures and tech support
AI that programs directly into the GDS so that non-GDS trained agents can service reservations
And not too far away, AI that answers the phone and coordinates with all other AI to answer anything travelers need

At Acai, we are building these AIs and have seen our clients save 20%+ in average handling time. We're also seeing that these LLM based AIs integrate more quickly into the TMC software ecosystem than previous AI technologies.

For the first time in my 10 years of being immersed in AI for travel call centers, first as CEO of 30SecondsToFly, then the Head of AI at American Express GBT, and now as CEO of Acai Travel, I see an AI foundational technology that consistently delivers. LLMs are changing the game everywhere — and that's no exception for the TMC business.

The revolution can feel daunting, but I couldn't be more excited to be a partner in helping TMCs embrace AI and stay competitive.