Which AI Travel Assistant Works Best for Business Travel?

When you book your own business travel without a travel management company, you’re doing the same work that Fortune 500 executives delegate to their assistants. Most consumer booking sites force you to start from scratch with each trip, entering the same preferences repeatedly. And when real problems hit, like when airlines cancel your flight at 10 PM before an important client meeting, these tools leave you stranded on hold with customer service.

This article compares four AI travel assistants for business travelers: Otto the Agent, TravelPerk, Layla AI, and Skywork.ai. So next time your flight gets delayed, you’ll know which tool will actually help get you to that client meeting. 

How to Choose an AI Travel Assistant

The best assistant handles routine work so you focus on your actual job. Start by asking these questions:

• Does it remember your airline status, seat preferences, and hotel locations? Or just your frequent flyer number?
• Can it find flights that work with your meeting schedule? Or does it just show the lowest price?
• Will it apply your loyalty numbers automatically? Or will you discover at check-in that you didn't get points?

Some platforms store basic preferences. Others learn patterns. They notice you always book hotels near specific clients, prefer time buffers before downtown meetings, and avoid early morning departures. When an assistant understands your priorities, it suggests flights that work with your schedule. And you don't explain everything from scratch each time. Here are some of the features to look for. 

Proactive Disruption Management

Many tools stop working after you get your confirmation email. But the best assistants keep monitoring even after you book. This is especially useful when schedules change, flights get canceled, or you need to extend a trip. AI assistants with proactive disruption management can offer alternative flights when your connection becomes impossible, update hotel reservations based on your new arrival times, and send consolidated itinerary updates. Even better if they can do it all through a conversational interface. 

These are the features that separate real assistants from search tools. 

Pricing Transparency

Travel assistants tend to use three pricing structures:

• Per-trip fees work for occasional travelers but add up fast for road warriors. You pay at booking and your costs scale directly with travel frequency.
• Monthly subscriptions provide consistent pricing and typically include policy controls and human help when automation fails. This option can work for regular travelers but can be costly if your travel is seasonal.
• Commission-based models charge you nothing directly because the assistant earns commissions from airlines and hotels every time you book, the same way travel agents have been operating for decades.   

Choosing the right model comes down to how often you travel and how much you value flexibility versus fixed costs.

Compliant Travel Booking

Corporate payment methods and travel policies matter even when you book independently. An assistant that checks your company’s travel policy in the background, handles complex itineraries, and gives you discretion when needed prevents headaches with non-compliant travel down the road. 

The platform should address business travel's specific requirements: same-day changes when schedules shift, expense-ready documentation, and clear booking confirmations. Regardless of pricing structure, confirm the system implements company guidelines while allowing flexibility when circumstances demand it.

Comparison of Top AI Travel Assistants

These four tools approach business travel differently. Some work like executive assistants, handling booking and learning your preferences. Others emphasize policy compliance and expense integration for companies with structured travel programs. A third category functions as research tools, providing information while you handle booking and management yourself.

Otto the Agent

Otto learns your preferences over time and handles the complete travel lifecycle from booking to disruption management. It works like the executive assistant most business travelers want but don't have.

Key Features:

• Books based on learned preferences. No forms or repetitive data entry.
• Learns your company travel policy and suggests compliant hotels and flights
• Monitors booked flights before departure and suggests alternate flights when disruptions occur.
• Supports conversational changes: Rebook flights and extend hotels in one chat.
• Option sync with calendar so Otto learns your meeting times and locations, and past hotel and airline preferences 
• Applies loyalty program numbers and automatically to bookings

Pricing:

• Commission-based model, free for travelers
• No subscription or per-trip fees
• Available on web, iOS, and Android

Who It Works For: Otto is great for frequent business travelers who don't have a travel team behind them. And anyone who hates scrolling through endless booking sites, wants their loyalty programs to work for them, and doesn't want to sit on hold when their flight gets delayed.

TravelPerk

TravelPerk focuses on corporate policy compliance and expense management. It provides a booking platform with human support for changes and disruptions, designed for companies with defined travel policies and approval processes.

Key Features:

• Incorporates company travel policies into the booking platform
• Shows which flight and hotel options comply with policy versus those requiring approval
• Connects to expense systems for receipt processing
• Provides human support team for rebooking during disruptions
• Includes approval workflows for travel requests

Pricing:

• Per-booking fee structure
• Optional monthly subscriptions for team features
• Requires company setup and configuration

Who It Works For: TravelPerk serves organizations with formal travel programs. It’s a good fit for companies that require policy enforcement, spend visibility, and approval workflows. Organizations that have outgrown spreadsheet-based management but aren't ready for enterprise travel management contracts might be a good fit. 

Layla AI

Layla AI focuses on destination research, planning, and itinerary generation. It works as a travel information resource that provides recommendations, answers location questions, sends alerts, and connects you to booking partners. You complete the actual booking yourself.

Key Features:

• Destination research and planning assistance
• Chat interface for travel questions and recommendations
• Restaurant and activity suggestions near accommodations
• Weather and transportation information
• Flight delay and gate change notifications
• Does NOT handle actual booking or rebooking

Pricing:

• Free tier available for basic use
• Paid plans for advanced features
• Works across web and mobile platforms

Who It Works For: Layla AI appeals to business travelers who prefer researching destinations but want information efficiently. 

Skywork.ai

Skywork.ai brings travel and project management together for client-facing professionals. It helps align trips with project deadlines and client meetings, which is perfect for anyone who plans travel around client work.

Key Features:

• Integration between travel and project management
• Coordinates travel with client deliverables and milestones
• Syncs with work calendar and project systems
• Templates for recurring client visits
• Helps plan travel that aligns with project schedules
• Support for managing multiple clients across locations

Pricing:

• Subscription model for individuals and teams
• Pricing scales with number of users
• Focuses on AI-driven research and productivity integration

Who It Works For: Skywork.ai serves consultants and project-based professionals whose travel centers around client deliverables. It supports teams that coordinate on-site visits around project milestones and businesses with recurring client meeting patterns.  

Streamline Business Travel with Otto

Otto the Agent works like an executive assistant for business travelers who book their own trips. Otto manages bookings and monitors for travel disruptions, learning from your preferences over time.

For road warriors dealing with frequent travel, Otto addresses common pain points: manually re-entering preferences, tracking loyalty program applications, and handling flight disruptions. Unlike consumer booking sites, Otto addresses business traveler needs like flights that align with meeting schedules. And Otto's conversational interface lets you explain your requirements in plain language rather than navigating through multiple form fields and filtering options.

Sign up to see how an AI assistant works when it actually manages business travel instead of just searching for flights.