Webjet launches ChatGPT app for flight & hotel searches

Webjet has launched a ChatGPT app for flight and hotel search, making it one of the first Australian online travel agencies to offer booking discovery inside ChatGPT.

The app lets travellers search and compare flights and hotels within the chat interface, rather than moving between separate websites or browser tabs. Users can enter destinations and travel dates in natural language and receive options drawn from Webjet's inventory.

The service is available to logged-in ChatGPT users on Free, Plus and Pro plans through the Apps tab, with access in conversation using @webjet. Once users choose an option, they are directed to Webjet's site to complete the booking.

How it works

The app supports conversational trip planning for queries such as hotel searches for a weekend break or flight searches for a specific route and travel period. It also shows hotel details, property images and room types within the chat, alongside flight options, allowing users to review choices in one place.

This side-by-side comparison is designed to help travellers weigh prices, dates and accommodation options before deciding whether to proceed. Booking does not take place inside ChatGPT; the transaction is completed on Webjet.

The launch adds to a broader push by travel companies to test how generative AI can be used at the discovery stage of trip planning. For online travel agencies, the key question is whether consumers will increasingly begin their search in AI assistants rather than on conventional travel sites or search engines.

That shift could affect how travel brands attract traffic and convert bookings. By placing its search tools inside ChatGPT, Webjet is seeking to maintain visibility among users already using AI interfaces to research destinations, compare options and narrow their choices.

AI strategy

Webjet linked the launch to Webjet Group's Strategic Growth Plan and its broader use of artificial intelligence in travel. The aim is to apply AI to complex travel planning tasks and place its services in digital environments consumers already use regularly.

Travel remains a sector in which search and comparison are central to the customer journey, making it a natural testing ground for AI-led interfaces. Users often need to compare dates, routes, room types and prices across several options before booking, giving conversational tools a clear use case if results are accurate and easy to navigate.

Katrina Barry, Group Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of Webjet Group, outlined the rationale for the launch.

"Australians are increasingly using AI tools like ChatGPT in their everyday lives, including for travel. As these platforms become more embedded in how people make decisions, it's important trusted travel brands like Webjet are part of that experience.

The Webjet ChatGPT app makes it easier for travellers to search, compare and plan flights and hotels conversationally before clicking directly through to Webjet to book. It's a simpler, more intuitive way to plan travel in the environments customers are already using every day," Barry said.

Webjet described itself as one of Australia and New Zealand's largest online travel agencies, with services spanning domestic and international flights, hotels, holiday packages, car hire, motorhomes and travel insurance. The new app focuses on the early stages of trip planning, giving users a way to review accommodation and flight options within a single conversation before moving to Webjet's platform to complete the reservation.