Ride Assist Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Owned by Yelena Szatmary (Deactivated)
Last updated: Apr 13, 2023 by Kavita Pillai
3 min read

Overview:

Ride Assist - Personalized Ground Recommendations

  • Powered by personalization and real-time data, Ride Assist enables travelers to discover, compare, and book ground transportation.

  • Ride Assist uses machine learning to consider the traveler’s needs and travel history, the weather, travel time estimates, preferences, company policy, and all available ground transportation providers in the area, to present intelligent and personalized ground recommendations to the traveler.

  • Ride Assist presents options for each leg of the trip; from the moment your traveler leaves home, to the time they return, Ride Assist offers ground transportation options throughout the journey.
    Ride Assist can help travelers book smarter and more cost effective ground travel.

FAQs

Q: Where will users see Ride Assist?

A. Ride Assist recommendations will appear on the Review Trip Page when the traveler has selected at least one flight:

  • Recommendations are shown for the routes to and from the airport at origin

  • Recommendations are shown in-destination if the Traveler has a hotel (and no car rental)

  • Recommendations will be shown for multi-city trips

  • Travelers will see recommendations in the initial booking flow as well as the change flow

Q: How Deem is leveraging machine learning to make the proper recommendation? 

A: Our Machine Learning algorithm is taking in consideration company policy, personal preferences and external factors like drivability (weather/traffic/road congestions) and parking cost.

  • The user booking history per location

  • If the user is new the analytics we will use the historical trip selections of other users in the same company user group to guide the recommendation

  • Historical traffic data (for different time of day and day of week) to estimate the duration for driving and car service options

  • Climate data (average temperature and precipitation of different months) to decide if additional penalty should be added for using transit or walk modes

    • Use case - traveling to Boston in January - we’ll prioritize drive and car service options. Use case - traveling to Boston in January - we’ll prioritize drive and car service options

  • Average parking costs at the destination is used as a deciding factor in rental car vs ride hailing/or car services recommendation. Use case: New York City with very high parking fees in the city we would recommend car services. In Ann Arbor, MI where parking cost is very low and driving conditions are good, we’ll recommend rent a car

Q: What ground transportation options are included in Ride Assist?

A. The following ground transportation options are available in Ride Assist:

  • Ride - chauffeured car ride

  • Drive - drive your own car to and from home airport

  • Transit - public transportation (if available)

Q: Why is the public transit option missing?

A. Public transportation companies provide their availability for the next 30 days. If you are looking outside the 30 day time period, the public transit schedule might not be available. Also, if your trip is during non-operating hours, the public transit option will not be available.

Q: What ground transportation options can I book?

A. Currently only chauffeured car transfers are bookable. Public transit and drive myself routes are for informational purposes only and can not be added to the trip.

A. The recommended label is displayed for options that we believe will best fit the traveler’s trip.

Q: Why are there different time and cost estimates for drive option?

A. There may be different time and cost estimates for the drive option because:

  • The drive option includes walking time from garage to a terminal

  • Parking fee is different per garage

Q: Will mileage rates/distance driven be displayed?

A: No, not today. This is something we are looking at adding as an enhancement

Q: Are the Ride Assist segments written to GDS?

A: Yes, any car service segments added to the trip will be added to GDS if site configured properly

  • Other segments like public transit and drive self will not be added to PNR

Q: Are the Ride Assist segments included in the confirmation email?

A: Yes, any car service segments added to the trip will be shown in the confirmation email

  • Other segments like public transit and drive self cannot be added to the itinerary and will not appear in the confirmation email

Q: Are Car Service segment added to calendar?

A: Yes, if site is configured properly

Q: How often a user will see Ride Assist new feature announcement pop up?

A: We will only show the pop-up the first time the traveler lands on the review page with Ride Assist enabled. However, that info is saved in local cookies so if the traveler clears cookies or uses a different browser, they will see the pop-up again - we will eventually remove this message