ChinaTravelNews, Ritesh Gupta - Trip.com Group continues to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to achieve significant benefits across its operations. This includes not only improving efficiency but also exceeding key performance indicators (KPIs) related to customer service for travel shoppers.
Providing an updating about the use of AI in its third quarter (Q3) earnings call, James Liang, Executive Chairman, Trip.com Group, said the group intends to utilise AI to optimise the planning process and provide tailored travel recommendations. Through the continuous integration of AI, the goal is work out intelligent and customised choices for a travel shopper.
Jane Sun, Chief Executive Officer, Trip.com said, “We're heavily invested in technology and AI, with our engineers working diligently to integrate AI into our operations.”
*She explained that there are four key applications on its platform:
Enhanced user experience: AI is revolutionising how traveller shoppers interact with Trip.com’s platform. Instead of relying on traditional search, AI now proactively recommends the most suitable products based on individual travel habits, streamlining the booking process.
*Accelerated development: “Our engineers are leveraging AI to streamline development processes, reducing coding time by 15-30%. This increased efficiency allows us to innovate faster and deliver new features to our users,” said Jane.
*Improved customer service: AI-powered tools are empowering the group’s customer service team to provide exceptional support. By automating routine tasks and analysing customer interactions, the plan is to respond to inquiries more quickly and effectively.
*Content generation: AI is significantly improving the quality and efficiency of the group’s content generation process. “By automating tasks like video and image creation, we can produce more engaging and accurate content,” said Jane.
Cindy Wang, CFO, highlighted that it has always embraced new tech for its operations, be it for mobile technology or generative AI and non-generative AI, which are described as two facets of artificial intelligence with distinct characteristics and applications. In non-generative AI, models perform computations based on input data). Under generative AI, there is generation of new content and patterns are derived from existing data to create new data. Wang said that from an operational perspective, AI has the potential to significantly enhance user engagement, conversion rates, and operational efficiency. These improvements will ultimately contribute to stronger financial performance.
Planning and booking journey
AI is now playing key role at different stages of the funnel. In terms of reach, AI-powered digital ads and real-time insights increase the precision of the message. This data-driven approach has resulted in a 25% increase in impressions and a 42% improvement in return on investment (ROI) across global markets. TripGenie, Trip.com's AI travel assistant, personalises the booking process. It has doubled the order conversion rate, boosted user engagement, and kept travellers engaged for over 20 minutes longer on average while interacting with the tool, according to the company. Also, when it comes to curated recommendations, Trip.com is using AI to analyse over 100 million user reviews. This allows Trip.com to curate personalised options for hotels, flights, and experiences. The impact is clear: over 70% of users rely on Trip.Best for travel decisions, with a 65% directly influenced by its recommendations, the company shared recently.
Marketing efficiency
Wang also spoke about the efficacy of the group’s mobile app.
“…sales and the marketing expenses as a percentage of our gross bookings actually were less than 1% and benefiting from our very high customer royalty and strong cross-selling ratio through our mobile app,” said Wang.
The app’s functionality stands out for its ease of use. As shared in the last quarter, more than 65% of transactions on the group's international OTA platform are conducted through mobile platform. “…our mobile app remained the top channel for the Trip.com brand, which contribute 65% to 70% of the global orders and over 70% in the APAC region,” shared Wang.
Sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of net revenue was 21% for the third quarter of 2024.
On the plan going forward, Wang said, “…we anticipate our marketing expenses ratio will actually increase in the Q4, especially compared with our net revenues due to seasonality and fluctuations in the revenue mix between our China and international businesses.” Wang added, “And in the longer-term period, we aim to enhance our marketing efficiencies across all markets by prioritised direct mobile app traffic and cross-selling. But again, we are continuously to increase our efficiencies across all the expenses line item, especially after introducing AI to help us to increase the efficiencies.” And at the same time, the focus would also be on expansion in the international market.
Net income for Q3 was RMB6.8 billion (US$970 million), compared to RMB4.6 billion for the same period in 2023.
