As travel came to a screeching halt during the COVID-19 pandemic, Jari Virtanen, CEO of Stena Line Travel and Retail Group, was faced with a blank slate. 

So, Virtanen, who oversees a portfolio of brands including Sembo, European Online Flights, Motorist and Best Travel, took the time to innovate and look to the future.

According to Virtanen, at the time, he looked at larger online travel agencies (OTAs) and noticed that while they'd improved the user experience on their websites, the search method was the same.

With this in mind, he and his team got to work on finding a way to compete with these OTAs by adding value through new technology.

The result is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot called Amelia, now live on Sembo, which has driven a 50% uptick in conversions year-over-year and a 42% price bump, Virtanen said.

“Our booking platform to begin with … it's like the Rubik's cube with all the squares separate, it's a modular thing to begin with,” he said, noting that this setup was beneficial when they started to adopt AI.

With Stena Line's AI solution, users can create an itinerary in less than two minutes, according to Virtanen.

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