Machine vision, says Utrip, TUI's chosen partner in AI, natural language processing and machine learning From being one of the first to dabble in blockchain technology to driving forward with AI-fuelled partnerships, the TUI Group is on a mission to remain a travel heavy weight. In a recent move, the world's biggest travel company has signed a deal with Seattle-based AI firm Utrip, to up its game in offering a deeply personalised experience throughout the customer journey. The idea, David Schelp, managing director of TUI Destination Services (DS), said in a press release, is to combine its "inventory of unique destination experiences with Utrip's artificial intelligence solution to provide our guests with the most personalised travel planning experience available today". TUI passed on an opportunity to hop on a call to discuss the deal further, the ever enthusiastic Gilad Berenstein, CEO and co-founder of Utrip, was keen to talk about how far his company, which launched in 2012, has come. "The power of AI today is that we can match up people's preferences with the inventory that has already been curated by TUI or by any of the partners we work with," he says.

Utrip, a Seattle startup that uses machine learning to help travelers plan their trips, just closed a $4 million funding round. Investors in the Series A round include Plug and Play, Tiempo Capital, Acorn Ventures, and executives from companies such as Apple and Costco, participating as angel investors. The cash will go toward Utrip's machine learning and data science operations, which fuel the platform's recommendation engine. "One of the things that our travelers love about Utrip is the depth with which we curate destinations and go beyond those top 10 lists that are available everywhere to offer experiences that are really unique and local and authentic for that destination," said Utrip CEO Gilad Berenstein. "That's one big priority, continuing to build out our machine learning capabilities as well as our human expert network, our chefs, artists, historians, etcetera."