By Lookout Staff
April 18, 2025 -- Travelers headed to Santa Monica can now have their entire itinerary instantly planned and their questions answered both before and during their stay using AI technology.
The popular beach destination recently became California's first city to use GuideGeek, a custom AI technology, when Santa Monica Travel & Tourism (SMTT) launched Santa Monica Guide on its website.
"Innovation has long been part of our destination’s DNA and this tool is the next step in meeting the future,” said Misti Kerns, SMTT's president and CEO.
“Santa Monica Guide is the perfect way to help prospective visitors from near and far discover all our city has to offer, from our incredible year-round farmers markets, arts and culture landscape and shopping destinations to our burgeoning wellness and tech industries.”
To access Santa Monica Guide, travelers can visit santamonica.com and click the chat box in the bottom-left corner of the site.
"This opens a chat window with the AI tool, which gives tailored responses based on the information users share, such as their interests, preferences, size of their group, ages and more," SMTT officials said.
The personalized, real-time responses are generated by AI trained on SMTT's extensive data and enhanced by more than 1,000 integrations for travel information from GuideGeek’s technology developed by Matador Network.
The guide "is designed to supplement the destination’s three in-person Visitor Information Centers, dedicated travel specialists and the greater team," SMTT officials said.
SMTT joins tourism boards representing larger regions in California, including the Inland Empire and Lake Tahoe, as well as international destinations from Aruba to New Zealand that use GuideGeek technology to assist visitors, officials said.
“Santa Monica has a beautiful landscape and luxury resorts, of course, but it’s also an innovative tech hub with a ton of startups,” Matador Network CEO Ross Borden said in a statement.
“It makes total sense that Santa Monica in the heart of Silicon Beach is the first city in California to launch a custom AI with our GuideGeek technology."
