Remember the last time you planned a trip? The endless browser tabs, the decision paralysis between dozens of hotels, the sinking feeling when you realised you’d booked a “romantic getaway” next to a construction site. Yeah, we’ve all been there.
The travel industry has been promising to make things easier for years. Better search engines, smarter filters, more personalised recommendations. But honestly? Most of us are still drowning in options and second-guessing every choice. Until now.
There’s something new happening in travel tech, and it’s called agentic AI. Don’t worry – it’s not as scary as it sounds. Think of it as having a really good travel buddy who knows exactly what you like, never gets tired of planning, and can actually book things for you while you sleep.
When Choosing Becomes Overwhelming
Here’s the thing about modern travel: we have too many choices. A simple weekend getaway can involve scrolling through hundreds of flights, comparing dozens of hotels, and reading reviews until your eyes glaze over. It’s exhausting before you even pack a bag.
Traditional travel sites try to help with basic filters – price range, star rating, location. But they don’t really know you. They can’t tell that you’re someone who’d rather spend an extra £50 to avoid a 6 AM flight, or that you secretly love cheesy tourist attractions but would never admit it to your friends.
Agentic AI changes this game entirely. Instead of just showing you what’s available, it learns what you actually want. Not through endless questionnaires or creepy data mining, but by paying attention to how you travel and what makes you happy.
At tickadoo (yes, that’s us), we’re building exactly this kind of system. Our app launches later this year, and it’s designed around a simple idea: what if your phone actually understood what kind of traveller you are? What if it could suggest things you’d love before you even knew you wanted them?
From Hours of Planning to Seconds of Magic
Think about how you actually travel versus how you plan to travel. Your carefully crafted itinerary usually goes out the window by day two, right? Rain ruins your outdoor plans, you discover an amazing restaurant that’s not in any guidebook, or you just feel like doing something completely different.
This is where agentic AI gets interesting. Instead of giving you a rigid schedule, it creates a living, breathing plan that adapts as you go. Missed your train? It’s already found the next one and texted your dinner reservation to push it back an hour. Weather looking iffy? Here are three indoor alternatives that match your vibe perfectly.
It’s like having a travel assistant who never sleeps, never gets frustrated, and somehow always knows exactly what you need. The spontaneity and flexibility that make travel magical, but with none of the stress when things go sideways.
Your New Travel Partner (Who Actually Gets You)
The coolest part isn’t just the personalisation – it’s how these systems become genuine collaborators. Instead of typing specific searches like “romantic restaurants near Times Square,” you can just say “I want tonight to feel special” or “show me something I’d never find on my own.”
The AI doesn’t just match keywords. It understands context, mood, and even the subtle preferences you might not articulate. Maybe you always choose the quirky local spot over the fancy chain restaurant, or you tend to book activities that get you moving when you’re stressed. These patterns matter, and a good agentic system picks up on them.
This shift reflects something bigger happening in how we interact with technology. We’re moving beyond just wanting things to be faster or cheaper. We want tech that understands us as individuals and helps us discover things that genuinely matter to us.
The Trust Factor
Now, let’s talk about the elephant in the room. Any system that can act on your behalf needs to earn serious trust. We’re talking about your money, your time, and your precious holiday days. The AI better get it right.
That’s why transparency is huge for us at tickadoo. Our AI makes suggestions and explains its reasoning, but you’re always in the driver’s seat. Think of it more like a really insightful friend giving advice rather than a robot making decisions for you.
We’re also obsessed with making sure this works for everyone, not just tech enthusiasts or frequent business travellers. Whether you’re planning your first international trip or you’re a digital nomad, whether you speak English or Mandarin, whether you’re using the latest iPhone or an older Android – the system should just work.
What’s Coming Next
Looking ahead, this is just the beginning. Imagine your travel AI chatting with your hotel’s AI to make sure your room is ready early because your flight landed ahead of schedule. Or your wearable device sensing that you’re stressed and automatically suggesting a peaceful walking route through a nearby park.
The goal isn’t to remove human connection from travel – it’s to remove the friction that prevents those magical moments from happening. Less time wrestling with logistics means more time for the conversations, discoveries and experiences that make travel meaningful.
We’re not trying to automate the wonder out of travel. We’re trying to automate the boring stuff so there’s more room for wonder. More serendipity, less stress. More discovery, less decision fatigue.
Because at the end of the day, the best travel stories aren’t about the perfect itinerary you planned for months. They’re about the unexpected detour that led to your new favourite place, the conversation with a stranger that changed your perspective, or the moment when everything just clicked perfectly.
And if AI can help create more of those moments? Well, that sounds like a trip worth taking.
What do you wanna doo?®
