Choose a bottleneck you can measure
Write down one task your team repeats: what triggers it, who performs it, which systems it touches, and what a correct result looks like. Count the weekly volume and time per item. Separate routine processing from exception handling; an average can hide the work that actually needs an experienced advisor.
Prioritize a task with frequent repetition, clear ownership, accessible data, and a recoverable failure mode. A low-volume task with unpredictable exceptions may be a process-design problem rather than a good first automation project.
Four workflows worth examining
- Email triage and follow-up
- Route supplier messages to the right queue, extract a deadline for review, and flag unanswered requests. Start with routing and visibility. Do not let an unreviewed AI interpretation create a client commitment or change a booking.
- CRM and back-office handoffs
- Identify fields copied from an inquiry or booking into another system. Confirm the source of truth, supported integration access, duplicate detection, and how corrections will flow back. Synchronizing inconsistent records can spread errors faster.
- Proposals and document preparation
- Assemble a draft from approved templates and verified source data. AI can help summarize unstructured material, but pricing, availability, and terms must come from authoritative systems and be checked before anything reaches the traveler.
- Reporting and reconciliation
- Automate a recurring export, matching step, or exception report. Define what counts as a match and send ambiguous records to a person. Preserve a traceable link to the source rather than silently overwriting a discrepancy.
AI, rules, or custom software?
Pick the simplest approach that handles the inputs you actually receive.
| Approach | Use it when | Examples and cautions |
|---|---|---|
| Rules | Inputs are structured and the decision is predictable. | Route by supplier, flag a due date, or move an approved record. |
| AI with review | Inputs vary and a person checks the result. | Classify an email, extract proposed fields from a document, or summarize a conversation. Test against realistic examples and failures, not just a successful demo. |
| Custom software | Existing products can't support a necessary workflow or connect your systems reliably. | Check configuration and supported integrations first. A small missing connection may not justify replacing your platform. |
Check access and risk before a build
Verify API permissions, vendor terms, data quality, and who can approve changes. Amadeus and Sabre workflows depend on the access your agency actually has; do not assume that a public API exposes every task available in an agent desktop.
Inventory sensitive traveler and payment data. Decide what can leave your systems, which vendor policies apply, and what needs to stay out of an AI prompt. Define human approval for booking changes, payments, and customer commitments, plus a manual fallback when an integration fails.
Run one bounded pilot
Keep the first pilot to one workflow, a limited set of records, and an agreed review process. Record the baseline before changing it. Compare processing time, correction rate, overdue handoffs, and time spent reviewing the automation's output.
Net time saved means manual time avoided minus review, exception handling, and ongoing maintenance. If the pilot only moves work to another person, revisit the process. Expand when the result is useful and repeatable, not just because the demo worked.
Bring these details to an assessment
- The task, weekly volume, and approximate time spent today
- The tools involved and available integration permissions
- The most common exceptions and the cost of a mistake
- The process owner and the measure that would justify investment