Mark Pestronk
Q: In your June 1 Legal Briefs column ("The pitfalls of open booking policies") you noted that the most popular consumer online-booking sites contain very extensive disclaimers of liability. Lately I have been reading about booking capabilities offered by agentic AI platforms, which translate a traveler's preferences into bookings for air, hotel, tours and activities. Do these AI websites come with the same legal risks as the popular consumer online-booking sites, such as Expedia?
A: Agentic AI websites and mobile apps are truly amazing, as they are able to not only understand your preferences and booking requests phrased in ordinary language but also make the bookings and process payment. They work not only for consumers but also for business travel.
However, agentic AI comes with the same legal risks as the public OTAs. The latter are agents for the suppliers and the user, and under established precedent they have the same duties of care as travel advisors, but their terms and conditions disclaim those duties.
Agentic AI companies can even disclaim being agents of the suppliers or the user. Although there are several agentic AI platforms on the market for consumers, businesses and travel advisors, the most advanced seems to be Mindtrip.
Mindtrip's terms state: "Mindtrip does not sell any products or services directly, and all reservations for flights, lodgings, vacation packages and other travel-related products and services are made with a third-party service provider and/or agent (each a "Booking Partner"). In order to make a booking, Mindtrip will either (1) redirect from our Service to the Booking Partner to make the travel booking or (2) collect the corresponding information from you and provide it to the Booking Partner to facilitate the booking and/or checkout (which may include the ticketing of your booking within our Service by the Booking Partner)."
In other words, Mindtrip claims to be more like a metasearch engine like Kayak or Tripadvisor, on which you access another company's website by clicking on your selection. The difference is that, with agentic AI, the platform does the booking for you.
Mindtrip's "Booking Partners" are chiefly Sabre for airlines and hotels and TUI for tours, according to answers provided by Claude.ai. So, in reality, when it comes to the booking step, Mindtrip does the same thing that travel agencies do.
However, like the public OTAs, Mindtrip has terms and conditions that disclaim liability for its own errors: "The Mindtrip parties make no warranty that (a) the service will meet your requirements; (b) the service will be uninterrupted, timely, secure or error-free; (c) the results that may be obtained from the use of the service will be accurate or reliable; or (d) the quality of any products, services, information or other material purchased or obtained by you through the service will meet your expectations."
By pointing out the risks of agentic AI websites and apps, I don't mean to discourage their use by travel advisors, as they can enhance the quality and efficiency of advisors' work. Just be aware of the legal risks of using them.