InteleTravel (No. 22 on Travel Weekly's Power List) is launching an AI chatbot for its travel advisors, InteleJoe, to help navigate its extranet.
The tagline for InteleJoe is, "If you Joe, you know," InteleTravel president Tara Minson said.
"It's next-generation chatbot stuff," added CEO James Ferrara.
InteleJoe was announced to advisors this week during the host agency's annual conference, InteleTravelQuest, held at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Punta Cana.
InteleJoe's name was inspired by two things, Ferrara said: a nod to the company's co-founder, Joseph Traina, and the idea that it's a friendly, approachable, "every man" name. Advisors can ask it a range of things, from why a payment failed to how to execute tasks, and it will answer by chat, phone or email.
While a chatbot-only version of InteleJoe is headed to advisors first, Ferrara said the second version of InteleJoe has already been built, complete with agentic AI. That version, when it's rolled out, will be more of a virtual assistant to advisors.
"Instead of saying how do I do something, you simply ask InteleJoe to do it for you," he said.
The host agency is also unveiling its own, proprietary itinerary builder, Jinn, named after the Arabic word for genie.
Jinn was built on top of Large Language Models (LLMs), the foundation for generative AI.
"It is fully integrated into InteleTravel systems and it is, I think, amongst the most powerful tools of this kind in the industry," Ferrara said.
That power, he said, comes from InteleTravel's expertise in both technology and travel as a company.
"It has real knowledge and nuances that a lot of other tools that we've seen do not have," he said.
Jinn can put together a full itinerary, including air, ground transportation, hotel, activities and entertainment, tickets to live events, restaurant reservations, insurance and vacation rentals.
Advisors can enter parameters into Jinn via natural language prompts, said Minson.
For instance, they can include language like this: I have two travelers, a husband and wife, traveling with three kids ages 3-5. One of the kids has special needs and can't walk for too long. I want a warm destination, three to five hours flight time from New York.
"You can qualify and put so much in up front. At the end, the itinerary is way more refined," Minson said.
Jinn also has the ability to ask advisors for more information so they don't need to be expert prompt-writers to use the tool well, Ferrara said.
Jinn was designed to help advisors work more efficiently, Ferrara said. Once it designs an itinerary, advisors can evaluate and edit as necessary before presenting it to a client.
The CEO stressed that the tool is advisor-facing only, with no consumer-facing facets.
"We believe it's essential to have a human, a professional human, in the interaction to build travel," Ferrara said.
Perks program a hit
In addition to its technology updates, InteleTravel provided info on IntelePerks, its rewards program: More than 290 million points have been awarded and redeemed across IntelePerks.
While advisors are clearly enjoying the program -- Minson said some compete to see who can earn the most points -- it was introduced for a greater reason.
"The purpose of it is to change behavior, to incentivize and motivate agents to continue their education," she said.
For example, points can be earned through attending webinars, getting certifications from supplier partners and entering bookings into InteleTravel's system quickly.
"We know if advisors follow those behaviors, it'll lead to success," Minson said.
Points can be redeemed for things like gift cards, luxury goods and travel.
A milestone for Major Travel
Major Travel, the U.K. tour operator InteleTravel acquired in 2024, is now live for travel originating from the U.S., Ferrara said.
The tour operator focuses on long-haul, custom trips. Some of its bigger destinations are Dubai, the Seychelles, Mauritius and African safaris.
To help introduce the tour operator to U.S. advisors, Ferrara plans to lead a safari in South Africa in June. The fam trip will take InteleTravel advisors to Kruger National Park and Cape Town.
A home, not a host
While InteleTravel is a host agency, Minson doesn't want it to be called that anymore. She prefers the term "home agency," which InteleTravel will use to describe itself moving forward.
"A host is literally just that -- it's a platform," she said. "A home is more than just four walls and a roof and the basic essentials that you need. It is support. It is guidance. It is help. It is mentoring. It is education. It is all the tools that you need for success."