From Stress to Success: How Agentic AI Is Streamlining Vacation Planning

Vacations should be heavy on ‌R&R, regardless of the destination. But for some, ‌booking alone can turn joy into dread with a click of the keyboard. As many as 71% of U.S. adults tasked with making travel arrangements report that the process is stressful for them. That number jumps to 78% for those with kids under 18. And more than half of Americans say a visit to the dentist or filing taxes is less stressful than flying. 

But with the rise of autonomous AI agents, and especially ‌Salesforce’s Agentforce, travel experiences could improve very soon. As the first digital labor solution for enterprises, Agentforce seamlessly integrates with Customer 360 applications and Data Cloud, the hyperscale data engine within the Salesforce Platform, bringing humans and autonomous AI agents together to deliver customer success.  

The travel and hospitality industries are already adopting autonomous AI agents, not only to assist customers with flight information, booking queries, and travel updates but to make their journeys easier than ever. 

First-class ease: Tailored journeys through the airport to your gate 

Heathrow Airport is one of the world’s busiest airports — with as many as 83 million passengers coming through annually. Heathrow will soon be deploying Agentforce, assisting travelers with things like finding their way through the airport. 

This agentic experience enables Heathrow to provide faster service, cutting handling times by 40%, benefiting both Heathrow and its flyers.  

Agentforce will set a new industry standard and will take our airport into the future with instant support to help passengers navigate faster. 

 Peter Burns, Director Marketing & Digital at Heathrow

Generally, airports have only limited access to information about individual travelers. But over the past three years, Heathrow has already made progress, increasing its customer knowledge base by over 10% using Data Cloud. 

Using Heathrow’s knowledge base, live APIs, flight statuses, and maps, Agentforce will generate 24/7 actionable case summaries with an expected 99.5% accuracy rate on airport and airline information.

Agent-driven wayfinding will be able to help travelers confidently find the best route to their gate (because locating the gate is one of a passenger’s first priorities). When passengers ask for directions, an autonomous AI agent will help the passenger find their gate to ensure they reach their flight on time. 

Along the way, passengers can easily locate a meal, the nearest coffee shop, and even a charging station for their phone or laptop, thanks to Agentforce providing a list of options on demand through WhatsApp. This allows them to have a relaxing airport experience, enjoying all the amenities until it’s time to board their flight.

Destination luxe: Experiences enhanced by agentic AI

One of the most AI-enabled travel services is the members-only club Secret Escapes. 

Membership in Secret Escapes has many benefits, including discounts on luxury hotels and holidays across the globe. Expert curators behind these exclusive deals ensure travelers continue to receive concierge service and hassle-free bookings, despite the growing demand for luxury travel experiences worldwide. 

But managing almost 180,000 annual contacts with requests ranging from simple to complex takes more than the work of ‌human curators. With Agentforce — the new agentic layer on the Salesforce Platform – Secret Escapes can automate routine tasks and simplify workflows, all to provide faster, more efficient, white-glove customer support. 

Need a crib in a hotel room? Agentforce can help by offering the hotel’s contact details. “Want to request refund options for a last-minute cancellation? It’s handled seamlessly. More complex issues, like getting the right dining options for a traveler with food allergies or other preferences, are elevated to a customer service specialist.

“Agentforce uses our unified data to automate routine tasks, freeing up our customer service specialists to handle more complex and last-minute travel needs to better serve our members,” said Kate Donaghy, Head of Business Technology, Secret Escapes.

Travel often involves last-minute requests, and Agentforce helps Secret Escapes handle these efficiently by enabling self-service for general inquiries. For instance, Agentforce can assist with special requests, such as arranging a crib in a hotel room, by providing the customer with relevant hotel contact details. For more complex or sensitive queries, Agentforce seamlessly escalates the issue to a human representative. This streamlines operations and ensures a seamless, high-quality experience for customers, with Agentforce expected to resolve 30% of customer requests through live chat autonomously.

Looking forward, Agentforce’s access to Secret Escapes’ company and customer data in Data Cloud, such as booking records, 200+ knowledge base articles, and over 50 million member profiles in Service Cloud will provide even more personalization for every query. It will also enrich each customer profile with the history and context Secret Escapes needs to create unique, tailored experiences. 

And low-code Agentforce tools can be scaled to fit the growing customer base, enabling the Secret Escapes team to adapt with minimal technical resources. Laura Meschi, Customer Experience Manager for Secret Escapes, noted, “You don’t need a technical background to create an agent-first service experience. Service teams can now build, test, and enhance it themselves — in real time.” 

Escape to the future

With more intelligent agents that can do everything from answer simple questions to solve complex issues, Agentforce is a force-multiplier for quelling traveler anxiety and revolutionizing an entire market. As the hospitality industry is showing us, businesses‌ can build a smarter, more efficient support system with Agentforce that grows with them. 

Before long, Agentforce will become the new, stress-free standard for any kind of travel. 

Go deeper:

• Discover Salesforce’s Four Keys to AI Enterprise Success
• Explore how to test agents 
• Explore Agentforce and Data Cloud customer stories
• Estimate your ROI with Agentforce
• Read about how Data Cloud powers Agentforce
• Learn more about testing and deployment on the Salesforce Platform
• Join the new Agentblazer and Datablazer communities
• See how teams can test Agentforce in Sandboxes and deploy to production