Penny the Pika brings conversational trip-planning support to VisitCOS.com, connecting destination information with a more personalised way to explore Colorado Springs.
Visit Colorado Springs has introduced Penny the Pika, an AI-powered chat feature built with Matador Network’s GuideGeek for VisitCOS.com. The tool is designed to answer visitor questions in real time, from itinerary ideas and packing suggestions to information about new businesses and attractions. Its arrival shows how destination marketing organisations are beginning to use conversational technology as an extension of visitor services rather than simply as a promotional channel.
Penny scans the Visit Colorado Springs website alongside more than 1,000 travel-data sources used by GuideGeek. Visitors can send messages in 50 languages, allowing the service to support trip planning across a broad range of international and domestic audiences. Since its launch a few months earlier, GuideGeek had helped 5,000 users and answered nearly 10,000 messages, according to the organisations.
The system was trained by the Visit Colorado Springs team and GuideGeek staff to reflect existing content, preferred messaging and the destination’s emphasis on sustainable travel. That training includes information about Leave No Trace principles and guidance on responsible behaviour in parks and on trails. The organisation also sought to make Penny recommend lesser-known and less-trafficked hikes and outdoor activities, including alternatives to sites that can become crowded at particular times of year.
For Visit Colorado Springs, the technology also creates a feedback loop around the questions visitors ask most often. Marketing director Melissa Williams said staff can access the platform’s backend to identify recurring enquiries and content gaps on the website. That gives the destination organisation a way to use visitor interactions not only for immediate assistance but also to inform future website improvements.
GuideGeek’s approach prioritises existing VisitCOS.com content rather than requiring a full large language model to be programmed and trained for the destination, which the companies say reduces associated energy use and carbon emissions. The implementation places Colorado Springs within a developing group of destinations testing AI as a practical layer between travellers and official tourism information. For Visit Colorado Springs, Penny’s value will depend on keeping that information useful, locally relevant and aligned with the places it is intended to represent.
