Ctrip Group marked the second anniversary of its AI travel companion, TripGenie, by introducing two new features: the AI-powered Menu Assistant and an improved Trip.com Widget. These additions are part of TripGenie’s 2025 vision, “From Answers to Actions,” signaling the shift from a passive chatbot to an active travel assistant that anticipates and addresses issues before they arise.
Menu Assistant: Solving Language Barriers for Easier Dining
Reading foreign menus has long been a challenge for travelers. TripGenie’s new Menu Assistant feature aims to ease this problem. Integrated within the Trip.com app, it uses AI language models with cultural context to translate menus. For example, when browsing a Thai menu, TripGenie doesn’t just translate “แกงปูใบชะพลู” as “Tom Kha Seabass.” It also provides a detailed description, explaining that the dish consists of seabass and tender coconut meat in a flavorful coconut broth infused with herbs and spices for a balanced taste of sweet, sour, and salty.
Additionally, the feature goes a step further by offering suggestions for signature dishes, helping users make decisions more easily. By the end of 2025, a new feature will allow users to select dishes and generate pre-written notes for the waitstaff, turning the ordering process into a seamless experience.
Trip.com Widget: Smarter Travel Tools at Your Fingertips
The redesigned Trip.com Widget, available directly from the home screen, provides travelers with instant, relevant support. It uses location data, booking history, and chat interactions to deliver personalized insights.
The widget includes:
Instant Menu Access: Direct access to the Menu Assistant.
Location-Aware Insights: Highlights of nearby places and historical information based on the user’s location.
Global Travel Tools: One-click access to real-time translation and currency conversion.
The widget reduces the effort required from users compared to traditional app navigation, aligning with TripGenie’s goal of simplifying the travel experience.
A Look Back: Two Years of Innovation
Since its launch on February 17, 2023, TripGenie has evolved from a simple conversational tool into a 24/7 travel assistant.
The 2025 roadmap focuses on three key areas that will further change personalized travel planning:
Predictive Assistance: Anticipating users’ needs, such as suggesting flights based on past bookings or alerting travelers to nearby festivals.
Multimodal Integration: Expanding real-time voice translation and testing photo/video-guided navigation at landmarks and transport hubs.
Global Scalability: Offering support in more languages to reach Trip.com’s global user base.
“Travelers face many small stresses—like reading menus, organizing group trips, or handling unexpected disruptions,” said Amy Wei, Founder of TripGenie and Senior Product Director at Ctrip Group. “TripGenie’s mission isn’t just to answer questions; it’s to prevent problems before they happen. Menu assistance is just the beginning.”
