How AI can improve the hotel guest experience

The product is constantly evolving, and 5-Out can now predict the number of specific menu items that will sell in a given period. Restaurateurs can see the item name, menu category, and the forecasted quantity expected to sell up to 31 days into the future. Mollie’s, the new UK motel and diner brand conceived by Soho House, proved that a sophisticated digital-first approach is entirely achievable at lower price points too. We work hand-in-hand with our clients to develop digital solutions driven by the knowledge of their business and our interactive expertise.

The use of ChatGPT, guest personalisation and automation has become a trending piece for hotels, tourist websites, and so on. Keep an eye out for the tools, gadgets, and platforms that aren’t available now but are set to create a noticeable impact on the industry. Start looking for brands or companies you like and forecast your upcoming budgets accordingly. Download our FREE guide to learn how we automated growth on the worlds biggest messaging channels for businesses just like yours.

How the travel industry can implement chatbots

There will be a push back against big OTAs as a result of ‘guest first, supply second’ treatment of hotels during covid-19. Whilst that is understandable from OTAs perspective, it re-opens the subject about how OTAs are not supply friendly. Sign up to our newsletter to receive the latest updates from our knowledgeable experts for tips and tricks on how to improve your online business today.

All of this in collaboration with access to Artificial Intelligence engines and machine learning tools makes the modern chatbot something which has already started changing the face of the hotel industry. The ability to get feedback from guests using Bonomi or GuestAdvisor means that a dialogue is established. Any problems can be dealt with effectively, and congratulations can also be responded to. Such proactivity encourages great responses from guests, and reviews on social media and OTA sites are the best ‘free marketing’ any hotelier can wish for. This then directly relates to the hotel’s revenue, because based on review scores, hotels get better ranking with the OTAs, and therefore greater exposure and more bookings. In turn this can also allow hotels to increase their prices, which can improve Average Daily Rate and occupancy.

Customizable AI Technology

Allow guests to order from their own mobile device or provide them with in-room tablets. Give guests the ability to opt-in/out for housekeeping services and select which days and how frequently their rooms are cleaned. Use the right tools to engage guests through their stay, but limit physical contact whenever possible. Get the latest creative jobs in advertising, media, marketing and digital delivered directly to your inbox each day. Travolution’s latest business breakfast saw leading travel brands The Travel Corporation, Cosmos and Ocean Holidays discuss best practice in customer… Expedia also recently built a plugin for ChatGPT so a traveller can start a conversation directly on the ChatGPT site, then book when they are ready with the OTA.

They are also a great resource to streamline processes and a valuable solution for the ever-going staffing crisis in the hospitality industry. Although we tend to think of the chat technologies available until recently as ‘understanding’ our requests, in reality their responses are based on complex trees of what programmers term ‘if/else’ decisions. If one thing is true, then the tree will branch to the next logical question. If it is not true, then this will prompt a further option, or a further clarifying question. If, for example, a guest answers ‘Yes’ to the question ‘Would you like to book a room? ’, then the next branch will involve asking for which nights and for how many people.

HOW OUR BOTS BRING VALUE TO BUSINESS

In the hotel industry, a hotel chatbot can respond to customer queries, streamline the booking process and encourage guest engagement. A hotel chatbot is a type of software that mimics human conversations between properties and guests or potential guests on the hotel’s website, messaging apps, and social media. Traditional taxi booking methods, such as calling a taxi company or hailing a cab on the street, can be cumbersome and time-consuming. Chatbots can also provide customers with personalized recommendations, offer discounts and promotions, and provide real-time updates on their rides.

Personalising a guest’s stay is another customer experience differentiator and alongside convenience, is one of the biggest disruptor trends at play in all industries currently. Chatbots can recommend hotels, restaurants, attractions and activities, book flights, car rentals, and tours, and send reminders, confirmations and notifications. We are a digital agency committed to inspiring commercially-focused companies to evolve their digital experiences, and to achieve more from their marketing spend.

AI, through personalization, can give an opportunity for hoteliers to know more about their customer’s behavior from various angles. With the help of AI, you can easily carve out the entire persona of the customer because it has a 360 degrees view of every guest. With this advantage, the hotelier can connect with guests and create a brand that can be simplified as merely word-of-mouth advancement, and brand reliability. AI can also give suggestions to hotel guests, about where they would be dropped off or picked up.

All they have to do is pre-design a chatbot to ask multiple-choice questions and respond with new questions based on the previous answers given by visitors. For lead generation, the primary method customers offer companies is a lead generation form. While this is a good option, the chance of converting your customers with a lead generation form is between 2.5% to 5%. While this is a respectable conversion rate, businesses should also apply the ‘second net’ strategy, which is effective for those website visitors who do not convert with landing pages and forms. In the above screenshot, you can see a demonstration of how a survey chatbot works.

Develop Chatbot

An organization’s employees, i.e., tech support teams, customer service agents, and salespeople, also need help figuring out answers to complex problems and questions as well (usually from customers themselves). In this way, a business with more than one department for providing services to customers can use chatbots to extend their services beyond their working hours by putting a chatbot online on their website or mobile application. As a result, companies and businesses can start utilizing chatbot use cases to their full potential, thus reducing their operational costs and increasing their sales.

By employing such a system, companies will see more leads generated compared to a simple lead generation form. Therefore, in order to make the most out of your conversational marketing strategy, the best option is to use both of them together. But before you can even consider making a decision on which one to leverage first, you need to know as much as you can about conversational marketing.

Data analytics

A company using this chatbot use case to great effect is Reply.io– a cold email automation tool. MVMT, a fashion-brand that develops watches and sunglasses and especially targets millennials, uses this strategy to great effect with their chatbot use case. Here’s an example of the National Geographic chatbot use case engaging visitors through a quiz and getting them interested in their Almanac eBook, which they give participants at a 10% discount. AmTrak, a railroad service in U.S.A and Canada, has used this chatbot use case. Hiver, a service that provides shared-email services to companies, does this job beautifully.

The hotel business positions itself to benefit from this technology by tapping into audiences from social media both uncontested and without breaking a sweat. AI, over the next decade, will be the key to opening the hotel business with the learning technology and near-endless amount of data. With this kind of technology, both big and small hotels will be able to overcome barriers of common skills, complications, and levelness. When it comes to online chats https://www.metadialog.com/ and direct messaging, digital assistants with seamless integration with cloud-based hotel management software have proven to be quite persuasive. Without exception, they respond immediately to consumer inquiries around-the-clock. As a creative strategy for connecting with potential consumers and fostering stronger connections, hotels are increasingly implementing messaging systems, integrating messaging platforms, and cloud-based hotel management software.

A recent YouGov survey showed that only 26% of UAE adults think chatbots can be useful while buying travel services online. Knowing everything about a brand and its service, chatbots respond to customers and address their needs instantly. Expedia has launched a travel planning service powered by artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT. Similar content-generating tools have already been rolled out by Microsoft and content creation software, Canva. It’s not news to anyone that hospitality, in particular, suffered significant losses.

• Customers can simply enter their product’s shipping ID there and get a status update.
• This way time isn’t wasted and furthermore, upgrades and additional services such as spa packages are provided with the aid of customer’s spending patterns.
• These virtual agents give companies new ways to improve customer experience, help them build better brand recognition and acquire new customers online.
• Allow guests to order from their own mobile device or provide them with in-room tablets.
• Installing an ordering system can help with quicker table service e.g. the UK Nandos current system is accessing menus and ordering via their smartphones.
• As you can see, both live chats and chatbots are equally as awesome as each other.

Slush, an organization that holds entrepreneurial events all over the world, did exactly this and experienced very positive results. In 2018, the LeadDesk chatbot on Slush’s website successfully  handled 64% of all customer support requests for chatbots for hotels the Slush customer support team—a significant load. And if that wasn’t enough, because of the 24/7 availability of the LeadDesk chatbot on Slush’s website and mobile app, people started 55% more conversations with Slush than the previous year.

It forms part of a wider project by the hotel group to cater to an increasingly digitally-savvy guest. We love to invite fellow experts in luxury to contribute to our content portfolio, whether they’re hospitality enthusiasts, brights minds with a tenure in luxury travel or just someone with something valuable to say. Sarah Miller was the founding Editor-in-Chief for Condé Nast Traveller UK, heading up the publication for fifteen years before leaving to launch it in both India and China. A couple of years later, Sarah was appointed European Editor of Travel + Leisure. She is currently The Wall Street Journal’s Luxury Brand Ambassador as well as the Founder and CEO of her eponymous brand consultancy based in London. AI could cut out the intensive work of curating strategies to a range of specific markets and customer demographics.

Reducing the dependency on front desk staff for this part of the process helps to free up their valuable time to focus on customer engagement and help provide a more memorable guest experience. The UK’s premier GDPR compliant online chat software including Chatbots, serving a range of industries since 2004. Offering your business chatbots for hotels established and proven web chat software with first class customer support and advice! That’s why customers consider Click4Assistance the best live chat provider in the UK. Travel firms could potentially route complex queries to staff and leave the bots to deal with minor issues, freeing up time and reducing wage expenses.