[(Title)] How Google’s using AI and big data to make travel better.

Since its acquisition of ITA Matrix Software eight years ago, Google has been quietly rolling out new tools for travelers.

自八年前收购ITA Matrix软件以来，谷歌一直在悄悄地为旅行者推出新工具。

Its progress has been even more notable over the past months and weeks as it began unveiling tools to help predict flight delays, plan trips, and manage itineraries—among other things.

在过去几个月和几周里，随着它开始推出各种工具，帮助预测航班延误、规划旅行和管理行程，进展更加显著。

These changes have some wondering: Is Google making a run at total domination in the travel space?

这些变化让人有些疑惑：谷歌是否在将旅游业完全占据主导地位？

If it is, there's a strong case to be made for its potential to disrupt the travel and hospitality sector with a similar approach to Amazon's run at retail, and more recently grocery.

如果是这样的话，就有充分的理由相信它有可能效仿亚马逊在零售和仓储行业的所作所为，扰乱旅游和酒店行业。

Consider how Amazon grew to the retail gargantuan it is today. Step one, see an opportunity to provide a better service by removing friction points. Step two, incremental growth through adoption and retention of loyal customers.

回顾下亚马逊如何发展到如今的零售店铺：

第一步是解决痛点提供更好的服务的机会。

第二步是培养和留住忠实客户，实现增量增长。

Step three, data, data, and more data. Step four, harness data into action – innovate, enhance, and repeat.

第三步，数据、数据及更多数据。

第四步，将数据转化为行动——创新、强化和重复。

With an already loyal band of customers and data stores that rival those of Amazon, Google is perfectly positioned to take a dominant position in the marketplace as it dives into travel.

谷歌拥有与亚马逊相当的忠实用户和数据存储，因此在进入旅游市场时，它完全有能力在市场上占据主导地位。

Its platform has the largely unrivaled ability to see when consumers are searching, it knows when they're away from home.

它的平台拥有无与伦比的能力，可以看到消费者何时在搜索，何时离开家门。

It even has flight and hotel reservations pouring in through Gmail.

它甚至可以通过Gmail了解用户的航班和酒店预订数据。

Leveraging its vast data network and app integrations, Google is uniquely poised to give consumers a seamless and tailored travel experience from the moment they decide to take a trip (and really, even before that), to the moment they return (and really, even after that).

谷歌利用其庞大的数据网络和应用程序集成，具有独特的优势，可以让消费者在决定进行一次旅行（甚至在此之前）时获得无缝、量身定制的旅行经验，直到他们旅行回来(甚至在那之后)。

Picture this – it's a cold winter day, and Julia is going about her usual business. She sees an ad (or maybe an article, email, or push notification) displaying a beautiful beach in Bali that she's always wanted to visit.

想象一下——在一个寒冷的冬天，朱莉娅正在做她平常的事情。她看到一则广告(或者一篇文章、电子邮件或推送通知)，展示了她一直想去的巴厘岛美丽海滩。

Clicking through, she finds a unique package offer for discounted airfare, hotel stay, and even scuba equipment rentals (she got her certification last year). Of course, Julia books it.

点击浏览，她发现了一个独特的套餐优惠，包括打折机票、酒店住宿，甚至潜水设备租赁(她去年刚获得浮潜证书)。当然，茱莉亚会预订。

As the trip approaches, she receives tailored communications highlighting amenities and experiences that get her even more excited. The vacation is everything she hopes it would be – except, as always, too short.

随着旅程的临近，她会收到量身定制的信息，强调让她更加兴奋的便利设施和体验。

她将得到一个梦想中的假期，除了和往常一样的，时间不够长。

A few weeks after she returns, however, Google knows she'll be looking for her next destination and starts serving up trips to visit her friends and family members across the country.

而在她回来几周之后，谷歌知道她将会寻找下一个目的地，并开始提供旅游服务，帮助她拜访全国各地的朋友和家人。

Google is more than capable of delivering this experience today as it orchestrates its data into actionable intelligence.

当谷歌将数据整合成可操作的情报时，它今天完全有能力提供这种体验。

Google's disruption to travel could be on the same magnitude as Amazon's disruption of retail – which has played a major role in today's so-called  "retail apocalypse."  

谷歌对旅游业的冲击可能与亚马逊对零售业的冲击一样严重。

The bar for the travel industry is quietly rising, and airlines and hotels will need to rise to the challenge or risk suffering, just as big retailers have while trying to catch up to Amazon.

旅游业的门槛正在悄悄上升，航空公司和酒店将面临巨大挑战，就像大型零售商努力追赶亚马逊一样。

So, disruption is coming. How can airlines and hospitality companies stay relevant without the massive data stores of a tech giant?

那么，混乱正在降临。没有科技巨头的大数据，航空公司和旅游公司如何才能幸存下来呢？

It all comes back to mastering data orchestration to create meaningful experiences for consumers across all channels. Even smaller data sets can have an outsized impact if leveraged properly across the organization and in real time.

所有这一切都归功于掌握数据编排方法，为各个渠道的消费者创造有意义的经验，即使较小的数据集也能够产生巨大的影响，只要在整个组织内以及实时地适当加以利用。

Travel companies can't afford to miss crucial decision points and interactions along the customer journey.

旅游公司不能错过顾客旅途中的关键决策点和互动。

This includes instances where they may be able to upsell (offer upgraded seats and rooms), improve service (provide bag tracking or easy access to concierge services) and personalize (empower service representatives on the front line to go above and beyond to make the customer feel special).

这包括他们可能会追加消费（提供升级的座位和房间），改善服务（提供行李跟踪或轻松访问礼宾服务）和个性化体验（使一线服务代表能超过期待的满足客户要求，让客户感觉很特别）。

Airlines and hotels have begun dabbling in their data and deploying AI to make it actionable, but there's plenty of ground left to cover.

航空公司和酒店已经开始使用他们的数据，并部署人工智能来使其可操作，但是还有很多挖掘的空间。

According to SITA, 52 percent of airlines are planning major AI programs over the next three years, but are particularly interested in leveraging AI for prediction and warning systems.

据SITA称，52%的航空公司正在计划未来三年启动人工智能项目，尤其对人工智能驱动的预测和预警系统特别感兴趣。

Still, there are numerous other ways airlines can leverage AI to improve the customer experience and differentiate themselves from competitors.

尽管如此，航空公司还有许多其他方法可以利用人工智能来改善客户体验，使自己与竞争对手不同。

Hotels are similarly beginning to embrace AI, enhancing the customer experience with chatbots, AI-based customer service and better understanding of customer behaviors, but advancing along this path will be even more vital with Google in the mix.

类似地，酒店也开始接受人工智能，通过聊天机器人、基于人工智能的客户服务和对客户行为的更好理解来增强客户体验，但是在谷歌的参与下，这条路的竞争将更加激烈。

But there is one advantage travel companies have over Google – their physical location touchpoints (check-in desks, POS systems, planes and hotels, etc.).

但是，旅游公司有一个优势是谷歌所不具备的——即它们所处的物理位置接触点(检查台、POS系统、飞机和酒店等)。

These face-to-face interactions give them a unique opportunity to make above-and-beyond experiences a reality for their customers. If you want an example of this done right, just look at what JetBlue has done.

这些面对面的互动为他们提供了一个独特的机会，让他们的客户能够拥有超凡的体验。 如果你想要一个正确的例子，只需看看捷蓝航空做了什么（Jet Blue——捷蓝航空是美国一家低成本航空公司）。

捷蓝航空机舱内部

Until Google starts buying up physical airlines and hotels, paralleling what Amazon started doing with its acquisition of Whole Foods, there is still time and room for travel and hospitality companies to get an edge and stay on top of the game.

在谷歌开始购买实体航空公司和酒店之前，亚马逊开始收购“全食食品”的同时，旅游公司仍有时间和空间获得优势，并继续保持领先优势。

The important thing is to master turbulent data streams now to keep from missing the boat.

重要的是，现在要掌握动荡的数据流，以免错失良机。