Germany: Vacation rental marketplace HomeToGo has officially launched Modes, described as a “revolutionary new way to find vacation rentals and travel destinations”, with its inaugural AI [artificial intelligence] Mode now available in beta to US and UK users in the HomeToGo app.
AI Mode is a generative AI-powered travel planner that is designed to provide highly personalised recommendations for vacation rentals and destinations through written conversation.
HomeToGo says that it is the first vacation rental-focused marketplace to test and launch an AI product in the vacation rental space, improving the entire experience through curated searches and providing partners with access to more highly qualified leads.
As a collection of curated search experiences, Modes is set to make finding the perfect vacation rental intuitively fast and easy. Each Mode has been created with the intended type of trip or traveller in mind, where multiple tools, filters and specialised views can be activated to display the most relevant offers for individual needs.
HomeToGo first announced the planned beta launch of Modes with its inaugural AI Mode in May, off the back of a significant growth in demand for AI products in the travel industry.
According to a report commissioned by HomeToGo this year, based on a survey of 504 US travellers, more than three-quarters [76 per cent] of US travellers would already consider using conversational AI to help them plan a trip.
At the same time, 42 per cent of US travellers said that they spend an hour or more searching for accommodations when planning a vacation, and 79 per cent of US travellers see themselves using AI to plan their trips in the next five years.
Simon Matthews, technology, data & OSS, HomeToGo, said: “HomeToGo’s AI Mode is a pioneer product in the next generation of search and booking experiences in travel, built completely in house by our brilliant tech team. The product combines our tech’s long history with machine learning and our ambition to provide travellers with a premier user experience.
“AI Mode is the ultimate tool for travellers looking for a more curated search experience, by enabling them to describe their uniquely ideal rentals and destinations in their own words and surfacing their best matches from our unparalleled selection. It minimises the cognitive load of organising a trip so HomeToGo travellers can now truly enjoy every part of their vacation, especially the planning,” he added.
Dr Patrick Andrae, co-founder and CEO, HomeToGo, said: “HomeToGo is once again at the forefront of the travel industry with the launch of Modes, a truly groundbreaking approach to finding the perfect vacation rental. All vacation rentals are unique as are the travellers who stay in them.
“We started HomeToGo with the vision to help travellers easily access incredible homes in the crowded and fragmented vacation rental space, and have been making this vision a reality ever since with the power of building our global marketplace. Now, it’s time to take another step to further match the search and booking experience to the individualism of our rentals and guests.
“We’re so excited to launch this brand new product line with our first Mode, the inaugural AI Mode. This new feature combines our deep expertise working with machine learning and our passion for delivering seamless, unparalleled experiences to our travellers with the newest technologies available,” he added.
AI Mode is the first Mode to be released as part of HomeToGo’s Modes collection and additional rollout will follow. The company says that it plans to offer additional Modes based on the most compelling insights it collects from its power users.
Founded in 2014, HomeToGo operates local apps and websites in 25 countries across Europe, North America, South America, Australia and Asia-Pacific.
Meanwhile, Matthews will speak at the inaugural ShortTermRentalz Summit [in partnership with Skift] on Wednesday 18 October in London. Click here for more information about the Summit and follow this link to book your tickets.
