Kayak has unveiled a new AI-powered platform designed to transform how users book flights and accommodation through a conversational interface. Olivia Palamountain reports

Kayak.ai allows travellers to search for travel information and compare prices across more than 400 providers using natural language queries rather than traditional form-based searches.

The platform aims to serve as an innovation laboratory for the company to test advanced AI features before potentially incorporating them into its main website.

"Kayak.ai provides a creative sandbox for our tech teams to innovate and offers a fun platform tailored to travellers who enjoy using ChatGPT and similar tools," says Steve Hafner, CEO of Kayak. "As we learn what people love on .ai, we will bring those features to Kayak.com for all travellers."

The system combines OpenAI's technology with Kayak's travel database to respond to conversational questions such as "what's the best time to travel to Rome" or "is my flight on time today", delivering pricing options, travel advice and real-time flight information.

Users can ask the platform to find destinations under £500 to visit in June from specific departure points, discover direct flight options from their home airport, or uncover the cheapest weekend travel opportunities for chosen destinations.

The service also allows for highly specific accommodation searches, such as finding hotels with swimming pools, complimentary breakfast and proximity to landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower.

For travellers with upcoming trips already saved in their Kayak account, the platform can provide real-time updates on delays, gate changes and boarding times when asked about flight status.

The company describes Kayak.ai as Kayak.com's "tech savvy sibling" that will cater specifically to AI enthusiasts and early adopters of new technology. Features that prove successful on the new platform will eventually be incorporated into the main Kayak website.