Draft:Lola (AI assistant)
 | Review waiting, please be patient.
This may take 5 weeks or more, since drafts are reviewed in no specific order. There are 2,757 pending submissions waiting for review.
Where to get help
How to improve a draft
You can also browse Wikipedia:Featured articles and Wikipedia:Good articles to find examples of Wikipedia's best writing on topics similar to your proposed article. Improving your odds of a speedy review To improve your odds of a faster review, tag your draft with relevant WikiProject tags using the button below. This will let reviewers know a new draft has been submitted in their area of interest. For instance, if you wrote about a female astronomer, you would want to add the Biography, Astronomy, and Women scientists tags. Editor resources
Reviewer tools
|
| Type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Artificial intelligence |
| Founded | 2026 |
| Founders | Steve Hafner, Paul English |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Parent | Booking Holdings |
| Website | lola |
Lola (formally Lola Agent) is an artificial intelligence assistant for experiences, owned by Booking Holdings.[1] It books hotels, restaurants, events and other experiences. It was founded in 2026 by Steve Hafner and Paul English, who co-founded Kayak, and launched on September 29, 2026.[2][3]
History
[edit]Booking Holdings reached a deal with English for the lola.com and lola.ai domains in April 2026, and English joined the company.[4] English had used the name for Lola.com, a corporate travel company that operated from 2015 to 2021.[5] Hafner, who reports to Booking Holdings chief executive Glenn Fogel, built the company with about 20 employees over five months, with offices in New York and Cambridge, Massachusetts. It runs on a technology platform and brand separate from Booking.com.[2]
Service
[edit]Members ask for recommendations in conversation and book within the same conversation. Lola concentrates on restaurants, events and attractions in members' own cities, along with hotels.[6] Hafner said the company was "focusing on people in their local markets."[6]
Lola books restaurants through OpenTable and ResX, live events and tours through SeatGeek, GetYourGuide and FareHarbor, and hotels through Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda and Nuitée. Other partners include BLADE, Aero and Ten Group, which provides human concierge service.[2][6]
Technology
[edit]Lola connects directly to partners' booking systems through software integrations, an approach English contrasted with AI agents that crawl the web.[4] Hafner said Lola uses Google's Gemini for many tasks and can swap in other models, and English said the company is building its own model trained on web information about travel, restaurants and events and on Booking.com transaction data.[2]
Competition
[edit]Lola launched shortly after Muse, a general-purpose personal AI agent from Meta that can also make bookings.[7] Hafner told PhocusWire that Muse often could not complete restaurant or hotel bookings, and that where it could, prices were worse or the process was slower.[8]
Membership
[edit]Lola has a free tier and two paid tiers, Plus at $5 a month and VIP at $25 a month, each billed on a 12-month commitment. Paid tiers include priority restaurant reservations, discounts on events and experiences, and hotel rates up to 15 percent off select hotels.[6][3] Lola passes booking commission savings back to members,[2] and says that payments and sponsorships from suppliers do not influence its recommendations.[3] Hafner expects about 90 percent of active users to stay on the free tier.[2]
References
[edit]- ↑ Maffei, Lucia (September 29, 2026). "'The most important Lola': New AI company brings Paul English back to travel". Boston Business Journal.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Kayak Co-Founders Launch Lola, Booking Holdings' New AI Assistant". Skift. September 29, 2026.
- 1 2 3 "Lola Launches AI-Powered Experiences, Memberships, and New Partners". Lola. September 29, 2026.
- 1 2 Chesto, Jon (October 2, 2026). "Paul English rejoins Kayak cofounder Steve Hafner for new AI travel venture". The Boston Globe.
- ↑ "Kayak Founders Team Up for Booking Holdings AI Startup". Skift. May 6, 2026.
- 1 2 3 4 "Booking Holdings launches AI tool for restaurants and activities". Travel Weekly. September 29, 2026.
- ↑ Dent, Steve (September 29, 2026). "Lola is a new AI travel agent backed by the company behind Booking.com". Engadget.
- ↑ Crotty, Abby (September 29, 2026). "Booking Holdings-backed Lola unveils membership model for AI travel and experiences assistant". PhocusWire.