Agoda has taken its AI Assistant out of testing and made it available to users across 21 markets, Vietnam among them. The feature first appeared as a limited beta in September, and this is the first time in the company's two-decade history that it has launched a genuinely new way to book on its platform.
The idea is simple enough: instead of juggling tabs, spreadsheets and screenshots, you chat with the assistant inside Agoda's mobile app. Ask it questions, throw it vague ideas, and it responds by drawing on the platform's live inventory — more than six million accommodation options, over 130,000 flight routes and upwards of 300,000 tours and activities. You can compare options, check prices and availability, and carry on through to booking without having to restart a search at every stage.
A trip-planner canvas sits at the centre of the experience, pulling your confirmed bookings, shortlisted places and half-formed ideas into one view. You can keep refining plans conversationally or pick from suggested options while your itinerary stays visible on screen.
Under the hood, the conversation runs on OpenAI models, while restaurant and point-of-interest recommendations come via Gemini with Google Maps Grounding — so you get ratings, photos, opening hours and locations alongside live Agoda prices. Web search is also built in, meaning the assistant can pull in current information rather than only static listings.
Agoda's chief executive Omri Morgenshtern framed the launch around a familiar frustration: trip planning is fragmented, with people hopping between apps, browser tabs, messages and spreadsheets. The assistant is meant to remember your preferences and trip details so you repeat yourself less.
There's a commercial angle for the company, too. Early beta data showed users of the assistant are more likely to book what Agoda calls a "connected trip" — bundling accommodation with flights, attraction tickets and tours in one go. For travellers, that could translate into easier packaging and fewer separate confirmations to track.
If you already use Agoda, the practical takeaway is that planning and booking now happen in the same conversation, which is handy for looser trips where you're still deciding between destinations. It's most useful on mobile, and most relevant for the 21 markets where it has launched — so worth checking whether your country is covered. For everyone else, it's a signal of where online booking is heading: assistants that plan, price and book in one thread, with live inventory behind them rather than generic suggestions.
