Priceline Gives Penny a Voice, Making Travel
Planning as Easy as Having a Conversation
NORWALK,
Conn., Oct. 1, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- At the
forefront of travel and technology, Priceline continues to
push boundaries with its newest innovation, Penny Voice. Building
on the success of its AI travel assistant, Priceline is integrating
cutting-edge voice technology for Penny's biggest upgrade yet.
Announced today at OpenAI's DevDay, the Penny Voice launch makes
Priceline one of the first brands to use OpenAI's Realtime API
powered by GPT-4o to create a customized, conversational agent.
With Penny Voice, booking travel will soon be as simple as having a
conversation.
Beginning today, Priceline customers will be able to interact
with the first version of Penny Voice built with OpenAI's Voice
Engine across its hotel product on Priceline's homepage and iOS
app. As a public beta participant of the newly announced Realtime
API, Priceline will be conducting a phased roll out of the new
technology in the coming weeks.
Using multimodal technology, Penny will be able to 'hear' and
understand complex consumer queries and anticipate needs based on
preferences and past interactions, then respond in a real-time
voice. Priceline's fully-integrated application will use the latest
AI technologies, including OpenAI's GPT-4o, Voice Engine and
Realtime API.
By simply speaking to Penny, Priceline customers can now do a
hands-free search for hotels, get activity or restaurant
recommendations or discover the ideal destination, without lifting
a finger. This groundbreaking feature is set to transform the
travel planning and booking experience, making it more efficient,
friendly and personalized than ever before.
"At Priceline, we've always pushed technological boundaries
to make travel easier. With Penny Voice, we're further redefining
how people plan and book travel," said Brett Keller, CEO, Priceline. "Our
collaboration with OpenAI includes a continuous feedback loop,
allowing us to rapidly innovate, enhance and now literally bring
Penny to life. We're extremely proud of our work together and the
results."
"Integrating Realtime API with Penny is a great example of
how companies can use our tools to build natural conversation
experiences into their applications," said Olivier Godement,
Head of API Product, OpenAI. "We're thrilled to work with
Priceline to help them build an AI-powered booking experience for
their customers."
Whether travelers are looking for a beachfront hotel or need to
change a room reservation, Penny Voice can handle it in natural,
conversational interactions. This innovative approach not only
streamlines the travel planning process but also opens up new
possibilities for customized travel experiences.
This level of personalization is made possible by the seamless
fusion of Priceline's deep consumer understanding, today's most
sophisticated voice recognition, natural language processing, and
machine learning technologies, including Retrieval-Augmented
Generation (RAG), which helps Penny find real-time, relevant
information to provide more accurate responses, and tools that
allow the AI to process text and audio efficiently. The fusion of
these technologies, with Priceline's customer data platform,
extensive global inventory and renowned deals engine create an
unmatched new user experience for travelers.
One of the first users of OpenAI's Voice Engine technology,
Priceline conducted auditions with more than one hundred voice
actors to 'cast' Penny's unique voice. Answers to audition
interview questions like suggestions on AI prompts for Penny, or
their descriptions of the best trip they've ever been on informed
Priceline's final Penny choice.
Travelers can now search hotels and discover new destinations
via Penny Voice on Priceline's iOS app, desktop and mobile web
interfaces. In coming months Penny Voice will be enhanced with
multiple new features, including full rollout of the
new Realtime API. This groundbreaking new technology allows
Penny to actually respond to a customer's tonality with an
emotionally appropriate response, mimicking a real conversation.
Additional benefits include faster interactions and more accurate
speech recognition to better understand diverse accents and speech
patterns in 120+ languages.
"Penny Voice makes planning a trip as easy as having a
conversation with a friend, making the experience far more natural
and intuitive," said Kevin
Heery, Chief Product Officer, Priceline. "At
Priceline, we continually explore new ways to leverage AI and novel
technologies to enhance the travel experience. Today we're excited
to welcome our travelers to a world where their next adventure is
just a conversation away."
Future upgrades also include enhanced customer support and
conversational continuity throughout the booking journey. Penny
Voice will also be expanded beyond Priceline's hotel category to
the company's flight, rental car and vacation package
offerings.
To experience Penny Voice, visit Priceline or download our iOS
app.
About Priceline
Priceline, part of Booking Holdings
Inc. [NASDAQ: BKNG], has been a leader in online travel for
twenty-five years. Priceline's proprietary deals technology pairs
negotiation with innovation to analyze billions of data points to
generate deep discounts for customers they can't find anywhere
else. Travelers have access to millions of hotels, flights,
alternative accommodations, rental cars, cruises, vacation packages
and experiences from trusted brands in over 116 countries around
the world, 24/7 customer service and incremental savings when
becoming a Priceline VIP. By making affordable travel within reach
for all, Priceline helps millions of customers each year be there
for the moments that matter to them. Because where your happy place
meets your happy price, that place is Priceline.
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SOURCE Priceline
