Black Tomato launches new emotions-led platform
Luxury travel operator Black Tomato has unveiled a new platform that redefines travel by focusing on the powerful emotions it evokes reflecting their founding philosophy: “You may not know where you want to go, but you know how you want to feel.”
As the saying goes, travel broadens the mind. But it also can also excavate our deepest emotions too, whether it’s the exhilaration of hang-gliding over Rio, de-stressing with a piña colada on a Caribbean beach or the rush of nostalgia that might come when revisiting soggy childhood holidays on the British coast.
Black Tomato has now gone one step further, developing an AI-powered ‘Feelings Engine’ which gives customers the chance to book holidays guided by their emotions, rather than price or bucket-lists.
By entering prompts or questions such as “I want to fix a broken heart” or “I want to feel untethered” into the Feelings Engine, the generative AI algorithms will then return personalised trip suggestions.
For example, travellers who want to feel ‘freed’ on their vacations may receive a recommendation about an adventure holiday in Chile’s Atacama Desert. For those that want to feel ‘distracted’ on their getaways, 12 nights in the remote steppes of western Mongolia might be the reply. And for any holidaymakers who have a strong desire to feel ‘challenged’, the Feelings Engine may throw up an itinerary involving hiking the fjords and kayaking around the icebergs of Greenland (a trip that will become even more challenging if Donald Trump ever gets his hands on the territory).
Black Tomato has 100 other curated experiences built around these three emotions, as well as ‘revitalised’ and ‘content’. The technology powering the Feelings Engine is a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)-based AI system which scours through the masses of data on Black Tomato’s website, with human travel experts later fine-tuning the answers.
It’s all part of Black Tomato’s new ‘The Pursuit of Feeling’ platform, launched to coincide with the firm’s anniversary, which also references its founding philosophy “You may not know where you want to go, but you know how you want to feel.” The brand has also launched The Pursuit of Feeling podcast where guests such as US pop artist Ashley Longshore and New York Fashion Week creator Fern Mallis discuss the feelings they’ve experienced on their travels.
“It’s a long-held insight from our clients that they may not know where they want to go but always know how they want to feel,” says Tom Marchant, co-founder of Black Tomato. “The Feelings Engine is a natural extension of this philosophy, creating an emotionally-focused approach to travel planning that combines the best of human expertise and insight with leading technology.”
“Since the beginning, we’ve always focused on the emotional drivers of travel, asking clients why they want to travel before landing on a destination,” he adds. “With The Pursuit of Feeling, we’re amplifying this foundational approach in ways that feel more personal and meaningful than ever before.”
Book an emotion-driven holiday via Black Tomato’s Feelings Engine here
