WEX Launches Travel Chatbot

WEX, the global provider of corporate payments solutions, announced Thursday (Jan. 10)  a partnership with AI.io, the voice technology company, to launch Halo Travel, a travel chatbot powered by Priceline Partner Network.

In a press release, WEX said Halo Travel will be the first app to enable people to book hotels and flights via voice commands. Halo Travel works with any device and is accessed via Google Assistant, Google’s voice-activated digital assistant. Users can conduct their entire travel transactions via voice. WEX said its virtual payments technology is the key component to facilitate the payment from Halo Travel to the Priceline Partner Network.

“Halo Travel is all about customer acquisition through innovation in one of the largest mass-market consumer segments in the world. Booking travel will be redefined with our advanced, artificial intelligence powered chatbot. Our partnerships with Priceline Partner Network and Google Assistant mean that hundreds of millions of people will have unfettered voice access to one of the largest travel inventories in the industry. After more than a year of development and testing, it gives me great joy that it will be our AI system that consumers will be engaging with,” AI.io CEO Terence Mills said in the press release. “This wouldn’t be possible for us to bring this to market without WEX’s virtual payments technology.”

Halo Travel’s chatbot relies on artificial intelligence to learn the travel habits and patterns of users, enabling it to offer personalized travel assistance and for users to book flights or hotels quickly. “WEX is proud to help bring this travel innovation to market, adding convenience to booking travel by providing our best-in-class virtual payments technology,” WEX Senior Vice President, Travel, Jim Pratt said in the same press release. “Exclusively through voice command, WEX will process Priceline transactions for Halo Travel users, ensuring a seamless payment process.”