Hotel technology provider Avvio unveiled the world’s first artificial intelligence (AI)-powered booking engine - Allora - at the ITB Berlin expo.

It focuses on driving direct bookings to the hotel’s website and improving guest loyalty by orchestrating better online interactions between hotels and guests, said its top official.

Built over 18 months by Avvio’s expert team of developers, Allora uses intelligent learning models to analyse large volumes of data and identify which variations will yield the best booking engine configuration.

"Allora is more than a booking engine, it’s a conversation platform, which is genuinely trying to curate a more refined and more appropriate experience for each website visitor. That may be a conversation about loyalty, a booking or an upsell," explained Frank Reeves, the co-founder and CEO.

"Allora boosts direct bookings and delivers a more personalised online service that reflects the exquisite experience hotel staff give to guests in-house," he added.