NEW YORK -- Lola, a company that enables users to book travel via chat function on a smartphone app, has joined Virtuoso as a travel agency member.
Lola connects users with a team of travel agents to book flights and hotels. Agents use a proprietary console to book travel, which will also be powered with artificial intelligence.
Despite the use of artificial intelligence, though, chief marketing officer Robert Birge said personalization is key, and Lola's agents will provide whatever artificial intelligence cannot in order to meet clients' needs.
David Kolner, senior vice president of global member partnerships, said Lola is among a group of non-traditional agency models that factor into Virtuoso's growth. "We see lots of different evolutions of new member models, new types of members," he said, citing Departure Lounge, a coffee shop/wine bar/travel agency in Austin, Texas.
Kolner also highlighted concierge-based models, like Quintessentially and 10 Lifestyle Management in the Virtuoso network, that count travel planning as one of many services they offer their clients.
Virtuoso was attracted to Lola because of its focus on technology while retaining a human touch.
"I think one of the things that excited us most about Lola was their commitment to the human-led, technology assisted model," Kolner said. "We're very interested, of course, in their technology, and their focus on selling in the luxury space and providing that sort of support to our portfolio of what we offer, but also just providing the very best in service and experiences for their clients."
In a statement, Virtuoso also pointed out that its non-traditional agency members are attracting a younger clientele.
Lola -- the name is shorthand for longitude and latitude -- was attracted to Virtuoso primarily because of its hotel collection, Birge said.
The service was founded on the concept that people are increasingly messaging instead of making phone calls. Birge offered a statistic backing that up: 64% of baby boomers prefer phone calls, he said, a number that drops to 29% of Generation X and 12% of millennials.
"The numbers are fairly staggering," he said.
It was also founded on the idea that people are increasingly using their smartphones to order on-demand services, whether it be rental cars or tickets to a show.
Birge described Lola like an executive assistant: a service that can take care of a user's needs at any time, right from their smartphone.
The company currently has 15 travel agents. Birge said that Lola has plans to expand and have agents in different locales, but he declined to get into specifics of potential future hires. "At some point, we also might expand to opening up our technology to other independent travel agents as well as travel agencies," he said.
Lola is currently invitation-only for consumers. The company will likely charge a membership fee for the service; Birge said he hopes to announce that structure in the fall.
"We absolutely intend to provide a value to the comparable services that are on the market," he said.