Amsterdam-based founders launch Away.ai: an AI-powered travel agent

Today, Loes Daniels and Jorik Schröder, the founders of Experiencegift, are launching their new platform, Away.ai: a Dutch AI travel platform that, based on personal preferences, budget and timing, puts together and books a complete travel package including flights and hotels within a matter of minutes. Whilst travellers currently spend hours on average comparing dozens of websites and tabs, Away.ai aims to reduce that process to a single conversation and a single, informed choice. The platform is available on the Dutch market with immediate effect.

Daniels and Schröder previously founded Experiencegift, the Amsterdam-based company behind Hotelgift, Flightgift, Traingift and Activitygift, through which they have helped over a million travellers in more than 100 countries since 2013 and which they grew into an international player without external investors. The company won the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 and, in 2023, the Oryx – the top prize at the FD Gazellen Awards – for the company with the most remarkable growth performance in the Netherlands. With Away.ai, they are now focusing all their years of experience in the travel industry, built up since 2013, entirely on AI. Their new mission: to make booking travel just as effortless as travelling itself.

“Booking a trip these days is more tiring than the journey itself. Twenty-seven tabs open, hundreds of options, and after hours of searching, you’re still unsure whether you’ve made the right choice,” says Loes Daniels, founder and CEO of Away.ai. “The modern traveller doesn’t want more choice, but the right choice. Away.ai understands what suits you, selects the best options offering the best value for money, and books your trip in a matter of minutes. With us, your holiday begins the moment you book.”

Smart technology, personalised results

Instead of endless search results and filters, Away.ai uses a proprietary algorithm that translates preferences, travel companions, timing and budget into a limited number of carefully selected travel options. The platform optimises the value for money and regularly surprises users with destinations they would never have found themselves, but which are exactly what they’re looking for.

“Behind every single search is a system that scans real-time prices, availability and quality data for thousands of flights and hotels,” says Jorik Schröder, co-founder of Away.ai. “Our algorithm translates preferences into a handful of options that really suit the traveller, rather than hundreds of search results. Everything we’ve learnt about travellers since 2013 is incorporated into that system.”

Travel credit with every booking

Away.ai is also introducing its own rewards scheme. Every booking adds travel credit to the personal Away Wallet: 2 per cent back on every trip, rising to 4 per cent when the full amount is paid from the Wallet. The credit can be spent immediately on a subsequent trip, with no expiring points, loyalty tiers or small print. In this way, the platform aims not only to save travellers time and money when booking, but also to reward them for every trip they make via Away.ai.

International ambition in a changing market

The launch comes at a time when artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the travel industry. Major international players are investing heavily in AI-driven travel planning; for example, Expedia Group acquired the Berlin-based AI travel start-up Layla just this month. Away.ai is launching in the Netherlands and has been built to scale internationally, with teams in Amsterdam, London, New York, Athens and Dubai. “The race for the traveller of the future is in full swing. We believe that race will not be won by whoever shows the most options, but by whoever makes the right choice for the traveller, at the best value,” said Daniels.