Embedding AI across the business: How loveholidays turned strategy into real impact

What does it really take to move AI from experimentation into everyday business operations? In this episode of The esynergy Podcast, Grant Ongers speaks with Mike Jones, CTO of Loveholidays, about how one of the UK’s largest online travel companies is embedding AI across its organisation — from engineering and operations to customer service and content. 

Rather than creating a separate AI lab, Loveholidays adopted a three-pronged strategy: improving how software is built, upskilling teams across the business, and evolving the operating model so AI becomes part of how the company works every day. 

Mike shares how this approach delivered immediate impact in the contact centre. Their chatbot “Sandy”, originally developed during the COVID refund surge, now handles around 60% of chat interactions and 20–25% of voice calls, generating millions in operational savings. Meanwhile “Agent Aura” supports agents with summaries and guidance to improve efficiency and customer outcomes. 

The conversation also explores how deterministic workflows can constrain LLM behaviour, how AI enables content generation and personalisation at massive scale, and why speed, security, and changing search behaviour make AI both an opportunity and a competitive threat. 

Key topics covered: 
• Embedding AI into the operating model rather than isolating it in a lab 
• Scaling AI in customer service with chatbots and agent-assist tools 
• Using deterministic workflows to control and operationalise LLMs 
• Generating and personalising content across thousands of travel products 
• AI as both a competitive advantage and a new security challenge 
• Lessons learned from hallucinations, data architecture, and AI governance 

This episode is essential listening for CTOs, digital leaders, AI strategists, and product teams looking to move beyond experimentation and deliver measurable impact with AI. 

Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and YouTube.