Holiday Extras is rethinking what it can build with Codex

Holiday Extras⁠(opens in a new window) helps customers search, book and manage trips. For CEO Matthew Pack, becoming an AI-based travel technology business means changing how the whole organisation works: giving the people who understand customers and operations the ability to improve them directly.

Company-wide ChatGPT Enterprise access established the foundation. Codex extended it into building software, from customer-facing apps to internal systems. Pack builds with Codex himself, using that experience to understand what colleagues need and raise his expectations of what the business can achieve.

“This isn’t about one or two people anymore. It’s about taking the entire team on the journey.”

—Matthew Pack, CEO, Holiday Extras

Inside the rollout: rebuilding the app and the way it is made

Holiday Extras had spent years developing its mobile apps⁠(opens in a new window). Major changes to its main app centred on an annual release. With Codex, it challenged itself to rethink the experience and how it was built.

Within two weeks, the team had a fully working rebuild, achieving development progress that previously would have taken over six months. Liam Thompson, VP of AI Innovation and formerly Head of Design, worked with engineers to translate his understanding of customers into software. Small, documented packages created reusable foundations, while engineers focused on architecture, APIs, security and development workflows.

The rebuilt app offered a more personal experience informed by customers’ bookings, trips and history. Codex enabled iOS and Android features to be developed together, bringing improvements to both platforms without Android following behind.

“It’s not a question of can I build it anymore. It’s how I would build it.”

—Liam Thompson, VP of AI Innovation, Holiday Extras

Results at a glance: better bookings and faster responses

Conversion and error-rate results compare the previous and rebuilt main app across different periods.

—Matthew Pack, CEO, Holiday Extras