FCM Travel has relaunched its proprietary chatbot Sam as a virtual travel assistant capable of ¡°anticipating user needs and providing real-time answers¡±.

Sam, which was originally launched in 2017, has been reinvented by FCM to deliver ¡°personalised, efficient and seamless solutions¡±.

The new version of Sam, which was unveiled at Business Travel Show Europe in London on Wednesday (25 June), will be available across the TMC¡¯s platforms, including mobile, desktop and chat functions.

¡°By learning from every single interaction, Sam ensures a consistent, high-quality experience across all touchpoints, empowering users with intuitive support whether booking trips, managing itineraries or accessing travel insights,¡± explained FCM in a statement.

The Flight Centre-owned TMC added that Sam will be able to offer real-time information, such as checking airport security queues and confirming visa requirements, as well as offering tailored recommendations based on a traveller¡¯s preferences, and automatically providing options, policies and contacts when a user¡¯s journey is disrupted.

For travel managers, FCM said that Sam offers adaptable behind-the-scenes ¡°playbooks¡± allowing them to configure the tool to meet their corporate needs and ¡°drive programme goals¡±.

John Morhous, global chief experience officer at FCM Travel, said: ¡°This isn't just about answering your questions ¨C it's about creating a travel companion that understands your preferences, simplifies complex tasks and enhances every journey.

Morhous told BTN Europe that Sam is being piloted by one of its biggest customers and is expected to roll-out to its customerbase in August or September with the launch of its new mobile app. ¡°We think the number one use case will be helping travellers on trips,¡± said?Morhous, adding that booking functionality could be added in the future ¡°if that's something customers want.¡±

He continued: ¡°We¡¯ve developed and delivered this very thoughtfully. We¡¯re not trying to eliminate humans ¨C we want to make our people shine. It sits as an infrastructure layer behind everything, so even if you work with us completely offline, the app will know your details and preferences.¡±

The company has built guardrails into the app, allowing customers to define what information and systems it can draw upon, and ¡°taken a lot time to plug it into everything and meet compliance and security protocols.¡±

When first launched in 2017, the TMC offered a free version of what was then a relatively basic chatbot together with some paid-for premium functionality. While Sam will again be provided to customers free-of-charge, Morhous did not rule out taking it in a similar direction.?¡°We¡¯re not charging anything as of right now but that doesn¡¯t mean we¡¯re not looking at commercialising aspects of it in the future,¡± he said.

The tool will also be available to customers of FCM's sister brand, Corporate Traveller, albeit under a different name and with a later release.

FCM said it was also working behind the scenes to unify its internal systems and integrate data from multiple sources into Sam to ¡°create a centralised intelligence¡± to help its human team to offer improved service to clients and their travellers.