Travelport has partnered with AI builder and tech services provider Cognizant to deploy Anthropic's Claude across Travelport's retail and distribution platforms.
The partnership will embed AI features into Travelport's platform. It will also speed up the delivery of AI innovation to its partners, including airlines, hoteliers, travel management companies and online travel agencies.
For travel agencies and TMCs specifically, Travelport said the partnership will help eliminate manual work by more quickly surfacing relevant options and automating tasks like exchanges and rebooking.
Another new feature will be embedding "disruption intelligence into workflows." As an example, an agent could find routes that have lower disruption risk for business travelers.
Under the partnership, the AI models and tools come from Anthropic, while Cognizant brings engineering talent and development to deploy them.
Travelport said the partnership's initial focus will be on Travelport Trip Services, its platform that handles bookings, exchanges, refunds and servicing. Customer-facing capabilities are expected to become available this year.
"AI is not a future consideration, it is happening now, and the companies that move fastest and most intelligently will define the next era of travel technology," Travelport CEO John Mangelaars said in a release.