Rakuten Travel has launched the Rakuten Travel AI Hotel Search, a free AI-powered service that provides tailored hotel recommendations to users via its smartphone site.
The service draws on Rakuten Travel’s extensive database of reviews, booking trends and accommodation plans from one of Japan’s widest hotel networks. It uses natural language processing to understand user requests, even when expressed in abstract terms, and generates optimised recommendations that can be viewed in a list or on a map.
Travellers can chat with the AI agent to specify destination, stay duration, number of guests, budget, accommodation type and preferred facilities. The tool then recommends up to 30 properties, presenting photos, prices, review scores and an AI Recommendation Points summary highlighting features that match user preferences.
Users can refine search results by adjusting stay length or hotel facilities and access Search Suggestions for more detailed queries, making the tool suitable even for first-time AI users.
Rakuten Travel plans to enhance the service based on user and partner feedback, with the long-term goal of expanding personalised support across different stages of the travel journey.
