American Express Global Business Travel has been awarded two new US patents for technology designed for use by corporate travellers and travel managers, according to the company.
One patent is for what Amex GBT described as a "neural network for optimising the display of hotels on a user interface." The artificial intelligence-based technology processes individual and company travel histories to make tailored hotel recommendations to travellers based on datapoints such as distance to the meeting, loyalty programme membership and past purchase decisions.
The second patent was granted for a "natural language processing system" that enables travel managers to assess travel programme performance via chatbot by querying a database using ordinary language rather than technical syntax. Designed to mine insights from large and complex travel data sets, the system allows users to train it over time to better understand the intent behind questions, the TMC said.
The new patents continue Amex GBT's recent emphasis on booking tool enhancements and chat-based capabilities. In March, the TMC rolled out a new display feature with in Neo booking tool that shows complete air fare attributes, such as those displayed on airline websites, to enable easier comparison between fares. And in June, GBT added WhatsApp as a support channel, enabling travellers to communicate with agents via the popular chat service to book trips and receive assistance while on the road.