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