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Scott Galloway, shown speaking at Convening Leaders 2022, returns to the CL Main Stage on Jan. 12 in Houston. (Whatever Media Group)
Last week, when I listened in on NYU Stern professor Scott Galloway’s annual trend forecast webinar, one prediction caught my ear: Consumers’ growing reliance on AI may mean that travelers increasingly look there, too, for advice on what to do and see and where to stay.
It was one takeaway of several that Galloway — an author, podcaster, and upcoming Convening Leaders 2025 Main Stage speaker — predicted more broadly of AI, specifically that we will see the winners and losers come into clearer focus in 2025. He expects the winners will be platforms and services that can give consumers precisely what they want — even if those consumers don’t always know what they want.
A prime example: TikTok. The AI-powered platform is increasingly a go-to source for travel advice — as recently highlighted by Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic, and others. I count myself among that audience, as I love that I can easily identify a like-minded solo female traveler who, say, also appreciates a funky boutique hotel.
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Galloway illustrated this point with his own example. When he needed to book a hotel for an upcoming conference he was speaking at — Summit Baja, an invitation-only event for entrepreneurs in Baja, Mexico — instead of defaulting to scrolling through dozens of hotel listings on Expedia or another OTA, he feed AI a precise list of preferences to cull through the options for him for a more bespoke shortlist of recommendations.
“Choice is a tax,” Galloway said. “People don’t want more choice.”
Recent research points to this trend applying to business travelers just as much as it does leisure: According to a recent survey conducted by SAP Concur, almost all (95 percent) of business travelers would consider using AI to assist with booking travel.
But much to the chagrin of organizers, this kind of hyper-personalized travel intelligence could make it easier to sway attendees away from booking within the block.
A recent article about a series of PCMA roundtables on housing challenges highlighted that this is already a persistent and growing problem, as only two out of five registrants book their housing within the designated room block — “an industry-wide average that has steadily declined from higher levels in the past, and now shows signs of dropping from 40 percent to only 30 percent booking in the block.”
Jennifer Dienst is senior editor at Convene.
Scott Galloway is brought to CL25 by New Orleans & Company and New Orleans Ernest N. Morial Convention Center