Marriott Bonvoy's New AI Search Tool: Tests Show How It Works - and Doesn't - Yahoo

Excerpt from Yahoo

Marriott Bonvoy last month released a new AI tool meant to help users search for vacation rentals under its Homes & Villas by Marriott Bonvoy brand.

Skift took it for a test run.

Marriott Bonvoy last year said that it had more than 100,000 listings through Homes & Villas, which it says is focused on the “premium and luxury tier of rental homes.”

The AI search bar is right at the top of the Homes & Villas webpage, and it invites users to search for rentals in natural language based on their preferences. The tool is available on desktop browsers only, with plans for mobile later. Traditional manual search is still available.

Theoretically, it would be a big time saver if a user could ask in natural language for certain features rather than having to search manually.

A pop-up window in the beginning, however, gives users the disclaimer that the tool is experimental: “Please forgive any hiccups as we journey towards the best home rental search experience.”

And there were, indeed, hiccups.

Though there are some kinks to be worked out, this tool offers an early glimpse at one way experts believe hotel search could change in the future.

The First Try: Fail

The very first prompt: “I’m looking for a large rental for 10 people on the beach in Mexico for the first weekend in August.”

It resulted in an error. It said no matches were found, even though another search later found that there were matches.

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