Lola is Booking.com's new AI travel agent

What Lola does

Lola is a new AI assistant backed by Booking.com. According to the company's launch release, it offers personalized recommendations, live availability and pricing, direct booking, and preferred rates and benefits. It can recommend and reserve a hotel, a restaurant, events, activities or an entire trip.

Booking in one conversation

The app searches real-time availability and pricing, which lets users compare options and finish the booking inside the same conversation. Lola understands natural language, asks follow-up questions and learns about each user to make its recommendations more personal.

Launch partners include ResX, BLADE, Aero, SeatGeek, GetYourGuide, Nuitee and Ten Group, along with Booking's own brands Booking.com, OpenTable, KAYAK, Priceline, Agoda and FareHarbor. CLEAR, listed in an earlier version of the story, is not a launch partner.

Free to use, with paid tiers

Lola is free, but certain services require a subscription. Plus costs $5 a month and VIP costs $25 a month, both with 12-month commitments. Subscribers get up to 15 percent discounts on four- and five-star hotels, complimentary Gold status for OpenTable reservations, priority access to events, premium airport services and a personal concierge.

Context and caveats

Lola is one of the first dedicated AI agents for travel booking, but Meta's Muse arrived earlier with similar capabilities, letting users book events, hotels and flights. When Muse launched, travel booking stocks fell on fears the AI agent could bypass dedicated travel sites.

AI agents also hallucinate and make mistakes. A legal firm cited an example in which an AI concierge booked a non-refundable hotel in Naples, Florida instead of Naples, Italy, where the traveler was flying. AI assistants can also show a "confirmed" status while a booking is still pending.