Customer support now incorporates AI to provide better service. — Pexels
With a 30-second pickup commitment and record of resolving over 85% incidents successfully on first attempt, Trip.com says it is committed to providing good service to customers.
In 2023, the international one-stop travel service provider established its customer support centre in Malaysia. Starting off with just a 10-person team, the centre saw a tenfold growth within two years, making it one of the fastest-growing customer support hubs globally.
“We see Malaysia as a key growth market with immense potential, and plans are in place to continue expanding to keep delivering high levels of service to our customers,” says Stephane Thong, general manager of Trip.com Malaysia, in an interview recently.
The growth may be attributed to the seamless integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into the existing support systems.
“Incorporating AI technology has significantly enhanced the way we support our customers by improving speed, accuracy, and convenience,” says Thong.
“We’ve integrated AI across our ecosystem to help handle routine inquiries and basic manual tasks, and we’ve seen ongoing success with this approach,” she adds.
Thong explains that through features like TripGenie – an AI assistant incorporated into Trip.com’s mobile app – travellers are able to receive instant updates, make contactless bookings, and access real-time information on flights, hotels, and itineraries.
This is especially crucial next year when Visit Malaysia 2026 begins, as it will help to provide seamless travel experiences to tourists.
AI tools have been utilised particularly by the younger generations among Asia Pacific travellers to create personalised recommendations and plan itinerary, as well as for language translation, according to Trip.com’s Momentum 2025 report.
The same report reveals that while older generations are showing lower adoption rates, there is a growing interest among them in technologies that can help simplify travel planning.
“Malaysians overall show a higher adoption of tech and AI on their travels, such as AI itinerary planners, virtual travel assistants, and translation tools, with only 3% not using any of these technologies compared to 10% in the larger Asia Pacific region,” Thong shares.
This is also reflected in TripGenie’s 2024 growth: Its traffic surged by 200%, browsing time nearly doubled, and the total number of conversations too increased by 200%.
Malaysia’s Trip.com team includes (from left) Hector Teh, Thong, Liyana Mohammad and Arvin Singh. — Handout
“AI helps us with predictive insights, allowing our team to anticipate issues such as flight delays or hotel availability changes,” says Thong. This has allowed the team to “reach out to customers with solutions”, rather than merely react to problems as they occur.
“Most importantly, AI frees up our human agents to focus on complex, high-touch cases – such as rebooking disrupted flights or handling urgent, multi-stakeholder issues – where empathy and personalised care are essential,” she adds.
A last-minute flight cancellation, for example, might involve rebooking or refunds, and even affect accommodation logistics. Resolving these issues would require the support staff to coordinate with various stakeholders and offer personalised solutions.
Resolving changes to travel schedules, such as flight changes and extension or cancellation of hotel stays, are among the common issues that the team would assist customers with.
“At the end of the day, technology enhances, but cannot replace, human service. Our goal is to combine AI-driven efficiency with the human touch, ensuring travellers receive both speed and care when dealing with travel disruptions,” she says.
The company’s Kuala Lumpur-based support centre, located at Tun Razak Exchange, has a fully local team whose understanding of local languages and cultural nuances helps in providing more refined solutions to Malaysian customers.
Featuring service capabilities in both Bahasa Malaysia and English, the customer support centre serves not only the Malaysian market but also other markets in the region, such as Singapore.
