Speakspots.com launches AI powered travel planning assistant to UK market. Integration of accommodation inventory enables ‘Smart Budgets’ – an AI enabled feature that prompts to redistribute or readjust budgets for accommodation and activities in destinations.
LONDON, UK – AI travel planning assistant, Speakspots.com announced the integration of Booking.com’s hotel inventory into the startup’s planning capabilities. The integration means that travellers using Speakspots.com’s powerful AI to plan their trip will also have access to hotel options, tailored to their individual preferences and requirements, in just one click. Early performance results from the integration show that travellers searching for accommodation options via Speakspots.com convert at double the average hotel web conversion rate (3% vs 1.5%).
Speakspots.com is an AI travel planning platform, which generates fully personalised itineraries in under a minute for over 150 destinations in 30 countries. The startup, which was founded in 2019, recently received pre-seed funding with industry leading investors and advisors. As the demand for AI powered travel assistance increases, Speakspots.com has recorded exponential month over month growth (100%) over the last 12 months, with search engine traffic volumes up from 10 daily impressions in September 2023 to 10,000 daily impressions in September 2024 (1,000x growth in 12 months).
Already popular across Spain, Italy and Latin America, Speakspots.com is now launching its offering for UK travellers, with itinerary generating capabilities in destinations across the top 10 outbound markets for UK travellers.
How it works
Speakspots.com aims to solve two challenges, in a very simple way – reducing the long hours travellers spend trawling through websites to plan an itinerary, and the possibility of unforeseen issues impacting their trip once in destination. Travellers answer 10 short questions and, in under a minute, the powerful AI generates a travel plan, taking into account personal tastes, opening hours, walking distances, budget and more, delivering the final itinerary to the traveller via WhatsApp. Once travellers arrive at their destination, the AI’s 60+ powerful algorithms can make over 150,000 calculations with the creation of each new itinerary to minimise disruptions, adapt a plan if the weather changes or alert travellers if an attraction is closed.
Integrating Booking.com inventory
Now Speakspots.com is incorporating Booking.com’s hotel inventory to enable tailored accommodation recommendations for travellers within the platform. Travellers will be able to access personalised hotel options in just one click, with the AI taking into account all of their preferences and requirements.
The integration also enables ‘Smart Budgets’; this feature uses Speakspots.com’s proprietary AI to recommend budget adjustments to users based on real-time data, helping travellers understand how they can redistribute their planned travel spend to make the most of their money in destination. Here’s an example: the feature can automatically let a user know if they have money left over in their activities and attractions budget which could be used towards accommodation, especially if they’re struggling to find a hotel in a particular neighbourhood or above a certain rating.
Automated itinerary generation and smart budget features are made possible by Speakspots.com’s proprietary database, populated via web data extraction processes that include tourist attraction opening hours, prices and reviews, real time accommodation availability and rates, distances and local tourism information. The platform also leverages access to real-time data from partners, including hotel prices from Booking.com and tour availability through Civitatis.
“We’re seeing a growing demand for travel assistants, powered by artificial intelligence – they can take into account a traveller’s personal preferences, requirements and budgets and save an incredible amount of energy and time, due to their tremendous data analysis and customisation capabilities,” comments Andrés Martínez Artal, founder and CEO of Speakspots.com.
Martinez Artal calls the integration of Booking.com’s hotel inventory a ‘giant step’, adding that the move brings Speakspots.com closer to its vision of becoming the most intelligent travel assistant in the world by enabling the creation of more complete travel itineraries, accommodation reservations and budget recommendations in 30 countries.
Sustainable destination exploration, sustainable travel tech evolution
As a native of Menorca, founder Andres Martinez Artal has experienced first hand both the benefits and pitfalls of tourism. In founding Speakspots.com, he is hoping to transform the way people visit a destination. “We’re focusing on sustainability in the truest sense – both in terms of encouraging more sustainable exploration of a destination, but also our ability to sustain a successful business model and travel sector over time,” explains Martinez Artal.
The hyper-personalisation of Speakspots.com’s AI-powered itinerary generation aims to encourage travellers to explore destinations in a way that is truly unique to them, rather than sending every visitor to the same attractions, restaurants or sightseeing spots. The platform’s simple questionnaire means each traveller can shape the kind of plan they receive, with over 90% of users opting to include hidden gems.
And so far, it’s working. As of September 2024, 95% of Speakspots.com users have received completely bespoke itineraries, ensuring travellers avoid big crowds, long queues and fights for a table at a restaurant, while also helping to alleviate pressure on locals. The goal is for a more mindful tourism experience and visitor economy within travel destinations.
Martinez Artal is determined that the Speakspots.com’s technology will be as sustainable as the exploration it enables. The tech stack is being built with future travel requirements in mind – from responsible and conscious travel, to voice search, accessibility, off season travel, integration of new technologies and always prioritising a user-focused end-to-end travel planning experience, across verticals. The startup’s recent pre-seed round means the company can hire new talent, further develop its product offering, integrate additional APIs and expand to new markets.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
