Chatbots for travel and tourism

Travel Bots in 2024: Top Benefits, Use Cases, and Examples

“Thanks to WotNot.io, we effortlessly automated feedback collection from over 100k patients via Whatsapp chatbots. Their seamless integration made the process smooth, enhancing patient engagement significantly.” Freshchat is live chat software that features email, voice, and AI chatbot support. Businesses can use Freshchat to deploy AI chatbots on their website, app, or other messaging channels like WhatsApp, LINE, Apple Messages for Business, and Messenger.

By automating routine tasks and inquiries, chatbots free up human staff to focus on more complex and revenue-generating activities. Thus, you can optimize your workforce, and the need for a large customer service team can be reduced. Conversations are a friendly way to seamlessly collect customer reviews and feedback to surveys. After completing a reservation or a service, the chatbot can ask the users some questions about their experience such as, “From 1-10, how satisfied are you with this travel agency’s services? Customer service needs to be available around the clock, resolving issues, changing reservations, or issuing refunds. It needs to be proactive too, alerting customers to issues or changes in a timely manner.

Thanks to its advanced artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, it can adapt to any conversation with a customer and provide the highest level of personalization and customer service. Its purpose is not limited to customer service agents; it is also helpful for marketers and sales representatives. AI-based travel chatbots serve as travel companions, offering continuous assistance, entertainment, and personalized recommendations from first greeting to farewell.

That is why travel is indicated as one of the top 5 industries for chatbot applications. Today, bots in the corporate travel industry allow customers to access information as conveniently as possible. Answering common queries, supporting the booking process, and providing easy access for customers to their travel information make travel bots the go-to solution for friction-free travel support. Consider all the touchpoints for consumers as they engage with travel operators and there you can uncover the opportunities for travel chatbots. But it’s important first to think about how conversations are more fluid and less structured than typical forms-based experiences that take a consumer through a defined set of screens or steps in order to complete their transaction. Multilingual functionality is vital in enhancing customer satisfaction and showcases the integration and commitment towards customer satisfaction.

Additionally, Zendesk includes live chat and self-service options, all within a unified Agent Workspace. This allows your team to deliver omnichannel customer service without jumping between apps or dashboards. Travel chatbots can help you deliver multilingual customer support by automatically translating conversations and transferring travelers to human agents who speak the same language. Unlike your support agents, travel chatbots never have to sleep, enabling your business to deliver quick, 24/7 support. This allows your customers to get help independently at whatever time works best for them. In the world of travel, this could be the difference between botched travel plans and memories that will last a lifetime.

The nearly ubiquitous adoption of smartphones by the modern business traveller means that a digital solution to travel needs is now a business imperative for the corporate travel industry. Through WotNot’s WhatsApp chatbot, Deyor Camps have been able to significantly amp up its overall revenue growth. For example, not all visitors know about the hidden gems (and sometimes even important sights) in the places they visit. Offering a tour of Stromboli to visitors to Sicily could help them not miss a famous point of interest close to the islands. From last-minute cancellations or delays to lost or damaged property, there are many incidences that can impact customer satisfaction and brand reputation.

Consider the time-lapse between booking travel or event tickets and the actual event date, and beyond. Stay informed and organized with timely notifications and reminders using outbound bots, ensuring a smooth journey ahead. Flow XO offers a free plan for up to 5 bots and a standard plan starting at $25 monthly for 15 bots. Whether searching for a late-night snack spot in Paris or looking for travel tips while battling jet lag in New York, a travel bot is always ready for action. Within just a few months, Deyor’s marketing department witnessed the following results from deploying the WhatsApp chatbot.

Such frequent and meaningful engagement builds greater brand loyalty and revenue opportunities. Verloop.io also supports multiple communication channels, including WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. With Verloop.io, AI chatbots can provide personalized travel recommendations and assist in booking and cancellation requests. Our AI-powered chatbots can help your business provide fast, 24/7 support to answer questions without agent intervention. Chatbots can also collect key customer information upfront, freeing your agents to tackle complex issues.

Accelerate Speed to Market with Blueprints for Travel Bots

TMCs can make use of bots to improve their service to travellers in a format the travellers desire in a cost-effective way. You may be burgeoning in a world where AI assistants and travel bots are gaining ground, but a sound digital solution that incorporates these tools can only be complemented by a knowledgeable Travel Management Company and Consultant. Customer service chatbots can assist you in becoming more profitable in a sector that includes everything from airlines to ferry services and cruise lines to railways to coach tours and hotels. Individuals are constantly on the move, itineraries are changing all the time, and infrastructure is both capital-intensive and dispersed.

When a customer plans a trip, the chatbot acts as a guide through the maze of flight options and hotel choices. For instance, a couple looking to book a romantic getaway to Fiji can simply tell the chatbot their dates and preferences. The chatbot then sifts through hundreds of flights and accommodations, presenting the couple with options that match their romantic theme, budget, and desired amenities – all in a matter of seconds. During peak travel seasons or promotional periods, the influx of inquiries can overwhelm customer service teams.

An example of a tourism chatbot is a virtual assistant on a city tourism website that helps visitors plan their itinerary by suggesting local attractions, restaurants, and events based on their interests. Pelago, a venture by the Singapore Airlines Group, faced the challenge of managing high-volume travel queries efficiently. With the goal of streamlining the booking process and minimizing human involvement, they turned to Yellow.ai. This level of personalization and efficiency isn’t just convenient; it’s changing the way people approach travel planning, making it a less challenging and more enjoyable experience.

Why an AI chatbot should be the gatekeeper to your customer service

Chatbots streamline the booking process by quickly filtering through options and presenting the most relevant choices to customers. It speeds up decision-making and also improves the accuracy and relevance of the bookings made, thereby increasing customer satisfaction and repeat business. An Epsilon study on customer engagement and loyalty in the travel sector found that 87% of respondents said they were much/somewhat more likely to do business with travel websites or apps offering personalized experiences.

The bots constantly learn from each customer interaction, adapting their responses and suggestions to create a service that resonates with different customer needs. The result is a higher level of personalization that improves overall satisfaction and increases customer engagement. Engati is a chatbot and live chat platform that enables users to deploy no-code chatbots. With Engati, users can set up a chatbot that allows travelers to book flights, hotels, and tours without human intervention. A travel chatbot easily proves to be a simple and user-friendly solution to the problem of complicated booking processes.

The unified Agent Workspace includes live agents, chat, and self-service options, making omnichannel customer service easy without app-switching. The availability of round-the-clock support via travel chatbots is essential for travel businesses. Unlike human support agents, these chatbots work tirelessly, providing customers with assistance whenever needed. This constant availability is crucial in the unpredictable world of travel, where unexpected challenges or queries can sometimes arise.

Skyscanner was one of the first travel sector brands to introduce conversational search interfaces. In February 2018, Skyscanner reported having surpassed one million chatbot interactions. FCM, a global player in the travel management industry, launched its AI chatbot application named Sam which provides travel assistance at every stage of the trip. The Bengaluru Metro Bot, available on WhatsApp, allows commuters to easily book tickets, check train schedules, and recharge their metro cards. The bot’s QR ticketing service provides a seamless payment experience right from the WhatsApp interface. Unwrap a bot blueprint in your account and modify it to meet your business needs.

Manage booking

Travel chatbots streamline the booking process by quickly sifting through options based on user preferences, offering relevant choices, and handling booking transactions, thus increasing efficiency and accuracy. Chatbots can facilitate reservation cancellations without hand-overs to live agents. Tasks such as checking flight information, routine booking, changing traveller information and even checking weather in your target destination are perfect for the chatbot. While the bot may help you rebook, it’s the human-to-human sympathy when you call a representative that will give a brand it’s customer service cred. Botsonic is a no-code AI travel chatbot builder designed for the travel industry.

For example, Baleària, a maritime transportation company, used Zendesk to implement a travel chatbot to answer common customer questions and reached a 96 percent customer satisfaction (CSAT) score. Support teams can configure their chatbots using a drag-and-drop builder and set them up to interact with customers on the company’s website, Messenger, and Telegram. Providing support in your customers’ native languages can help improve their experience, as 71 percent believe it’s “very” or “extremely” important that companies offer support in their native language.

Our blueprints help you create bot experiences for a growing range of travel use cases. To keep track of all travel, most policies require that travel is booked through a specific company or channel. Because bots serve as a single access point for multiple sources of information, travellers will be able to access more options from more places, giving them more flexibility within the framework of the travel policy. Customers browse and shop around for their travel, whether it’s for business or for pleasure. They hop across various device platforms, from their desktop to their mobile phones, but they also hop from one booking platform to another and from one airline to the next.

A travel chatbot is an automated virtual assistant that guides customers with all the digital requirements of traveling. Yellow.ai stands as a beacon of innovation in the travel chatbot landscape. Building a travel chatbot with Yellow.ai is not just about automation; it’s about crafting a digital travel companion that resonates with your brand’s unique voice and customer needs. Chatbots provide travelers with up-to-the-minute updates on flight statuses, gate changes, or even local events at their destination. This real-time information ensures travelers are well-informed and can make timely decisions, improving their overall travel experience. When users decide upon the details of a travel plan,  such as a flight or a hotel, the chatbot can inquire about user information, ID or passport data, and number of children accompanying the traveller.

But keep in mind that users aren’t able to build custom metrics, so teams must manually add data when exporting reports. Additionally, you can customize your chatbot, including its name, color scheme, logo, contact information, and tagline. Botsonic also includes built-in safeguards to eliminate off-topic questions or answers that could misinform your customers. Now that you understand the benefits of AI chatbots, let’s take a look at seven of the best options for 2024.

Get instant local insights and guidance for all your queries with an efficient on-the-ground travel chatbot, ensuring a seamless travel experience. However, there is a solution if customers ask questions that may be more complex, and the bot needs help to cope with them. Simply integrating ChatBot with LiveChat provides your customers with comprehensive care and answers to every question. ChatBot will seamlessly redirect your customers to talk to a live agent who is sure to find a solution.

“I love how helpful their sales teams were throughout the process. The sales team understood our challenge and proposed a custom-fit solution to us.” ChatBot will suit any industry because it is your own generative AI Large Language Model framework, designed and launched in minutes without coding, based on your resources.

This capability enhances customer service and also opens up new markets for your business. Imagine a tool that’s available 24/7, understands your preferences, speaks your language, and guides you through every step of your travel journey. From the bustling streets of New York to the serene landscapes of Kyoto, these chatbots are your travel wizards, making every trip not just a journey but an experience to cherish. Simplify travel planning with personalized recommendations from a user-friendly travel chatbot, making your journey hassle-free.

Let us take a look at some of major travel sector companies that have implemented a chatbot to level up their customer experience. In the unfortunate event that a customer has to cancel their reservation, the chatbot can handle that too. As long as the customer has their booking reservation on hand, the bot can cancel the booking, recommend replacement bookings, and start processing a claim for a refund.

He led technology strategy and procurement of a telco while reporting to the CEO. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. He has also led commercial growth of deep tech company Hypatos that reached a 7 digit annual recurring revenue and a 9 digit valuation from 0 within 2 years. Cem’s work in Hypatos was covered by leading technology publications like TechCrunch and Business Insider. AIMultiple informs hundreds of thousands of businesses (as per Similarweb) including 60% of Fortune 500 every month.

Finally, Zendesk works out of the box, enabling you to provide AI-enriched customer service without needing to hire an army of developers. This lowers your total cost of ownership (TCO) and speeds up your time to value (TTV). If the bot is asked something which requires a human agent to jump in, the bot can simply collect the details of the prospect and notify the human agent.

For example, Expedia offers a Facebook messenger chatbot to enable users to browse hotels around the world and check availability during specific periods. Imagine how a good upgrade experience can boost your brand and keep customers coming back. Receiving an uninitiated upgrade goes a long way to pleasing a frequent customer or rewards member. Whether it’s upgrading a passenger to a better seat or a guest to a suite with a view, Upgrade Bot can help you manage the process more easily. The bot can handle both inbound requests for upgrades as well as engage proactively to offer them an opportunity to upgrade, according to availability. Bots afford TMCs the opportunity to create a channel strategy to reach their customers where they are.

This insightful article explores the burgeoning world of travel AI chatbots, showcasing their pivotal role in enhancing customer experiences and streamlining operations for travel agencies. A travel chatbot is a digital assistant https://chat.openai.com/ powered by artificial intelligence. It is designed to help travelers with various aspects of their journey, from booking flights and hotels to providing real-time travel updates and personalized recommendations.

Benefits of using travel chatbots

The travel industry is among the top five industries using chatbots, alongside real estate, education, healthcare, and finance. According to the survey, 37% of users prefer smart chatbots for comparing booking options or arranging travel plans, while 33% use them to make reservations at hotels or restaurants. No matter how hard people try to get through their travels without a hitch, some issues are unavoidable. Fortunately, travel chatbots can provide an easily accessible avenue of support for weary travelers to get the help they need and improve their travel experience. In addition to helping travelers, travel bots can assist live support agents by answering common customer questions and collecting key information for agents upfront to help improve agent productivity.

They can also recommend and provide coupons for restaurants or cafes which the travel agency has deals with. Travel chatbots could also be deployed to handle redundant questions such as policy questions, baggage fees, customer support, and limited booking capabilities. Progressive TMCs could use chatbots to reduce call volumes answering simple questions about policy or travel options. Travel bots will enable TMCs to combine human service with technology to create a more advanced level of customer service and to cut costs. FCM believe that travel bots, such as Sam, have been developed to provide an additional interface for travellers, which will complement but never replace the skills and insights of the TMC. The travel expert will always have a key role to play when it comes to managing business travel for large corporations.

The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) aimed to reduce wait times for its 380K+ daily commuters. To this end, it introduced an industry-first QR ticketing service powered by Yellow.ai’s Dynamic AI agent. The chatbot can also provide a payment gateway for the traveller to make the payment, thus finalizing their reservations and receiving an electronic itinerary. Also provides a channel to complete payments via credit cards, finalizes the reservations, and sends itinerary via email or message. The reliability of a chatbot is directly linked to its ability to provide the correct response within a conversation.

Additionally, Yellow.ai users can manage chat, email, and voice conversations with travelers in one inbox. Botsonic offers custom ChatGPT-powered chatbots that use your company’s data to address customer queries. With Botsonic, you use a drag-and-drop interface to set up a chatbot that answers traveler questions—no coding is required. Travel chatbots can also drive conversions by sending prospective travelers proactive messages, personalized suggestions, and relevant offerings based on previous interactions. This means bots can also automate upselling and cross-selling activities, further increasing sales. Chatbot for travel can also serve as an intelligence-gathering tool that assists a travel agency to understand its customers.

Whether it’s efficiently managing bookings or offering real-time updates, these chatbots are proving to be more than just virtual assistants; they are becoming the architects of enriched travel experiences in a post-pandemic world. Through a travel chatbot, it becomes easier for travel Chat PG companies to upsell or cross-sell from one offering to another. Say, for example, a visitor tries to book tickets for a flight from an OTA’s chatbot, it subtly recommends to the visitor to book cabs to and fro from the hotel to the airport at the arrival and departure dates, in one go.

Big names like WestJet, Expedia and Booking.com have already implemented chatbots that provide flight and hotel recommendations and process bookings, thereby providing a simplistic and unifying experience to the user. This ensures that the prospects fill in all the details without getting bored or switching to some other tab.Also, many chatbots use AI to adapt and respond instantly to any of the prospect’s responses. This helps in better data collection and creates a way better customer experience as compared to “book a demo” forms. They have gone beyond just facilitating bookings to enhance the entire journey, making every trip smoother, more personalized, and enjoyable. In addition to fundamental interactions, travel chatbots excel in trip planning, booking assistance, in-trip customer service, and tailored travel suggestions. The entire itinerary can be fixed – all through the chatbot, facilitating end-to-end customer support.

The best customer service bots in the travel industry

Additionally, global brands such as Expedia, Booking.com, and Skyscanner have adopted (conversational commerce) chatbots to process booking, recommend travel plans, and provide promotions and campaigns to current and potential users. This adoption will encourage medium and small size travel agencies to consider chatbots as a way to increase customer satisfaction. A Booking Bot takes your customers on a journey that begins with a booking confirmation and continues over a period of time to the completion of the trip and beyond. The bot can engage proactively throughout the lifecycle, offering options to book related services such as transportation or rental car, accommodation, event tickets, restaurants, local activities, upgrades, and more. The bot can also reach out at intervals prior to a customer’s trip or event to advise them on local attractions or events, shopping, dining, weather, traffic, or promotions and respond to any queries or requests.

Yellow.ai’s platform offers features like DynamicNLPTM for multilingual support, ensuring your chatbot can communicate effectively with a global audience. The no-code builder and pre-built templates make it easy for any travel business, regardless of size or technical expertise, to create a chatbot tailored to their specific needs. With the ability to handle complex queries, provide real-time updates, and personalize interactions, Yellow.ai’s chatbots elevate the customer experience to new heights. Zendesk’s AI-powered chatbots provide fast, 24/7 support and handle customer inquiries without requiring an agent. These chatbots are pre-trained on billions of data points, allowing them to understand customer intent, sentiment, and language. They gather essential customer information upfront, allowing agents to address more complex issues.

Chatbots effortlessly manage these increased volumes, ensuring every query is addressed and potential bookings are not lost due to capacity constraints. In a global industry like travel, language barriers can be significant obstacles. Chatbots bridge this gap by conversing in multiple languages, enabling your business to cater to a broader, more diverse customer base.

Book a demo today and embark on a journey towards digital excellence in customer engagement. The deployment of Travis led to an 80% CSAT score and the resolution of 80% of monthly queries without human assistance, showcasing the power of AI in revolutionizing customer support in the travel industry. Indigo sought to enhance its customer support operations, aiming to efficiently handle high query volumes around the clock while managing costs. And if you are ready to invest in an off-the-shelf conversational AI solution, make sure to check our data-driven lists of chatbot platforms and voice bot vendors. To learn more about chatbots, feel free to explore our in-depth articles about conversational AI and the different types of chatbots which, are rule based or AI-based.

This proves to be an effective way to cross-sell and bring them back for repeat business through new deals and offers sent via SMS or Facebook Messenger updates. One can even proactively reach new audiences speaking different languages using a multilingual chatbot.Multi-lingual bots are powered by NLP (Natural Language Processing) engines such as Google’s Dialogflow and IBM Watson. Engines like Dialogflow provides an option to build a travel bot in 20 different languages. The engines are also backed by machine learning capabilities.Travel chatbot removes language barriers and brings companies one step closer to their customers.

But it can also use Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Natural Language Processing to understand customer intent, analyze problems and provide solutions based on previous interactions. The advantages of chatbots in tourism include enhanced customer service, operational efficiency, cost reduction, 24/7 availability, multilingual support, and the ability to handle high volumes of inquiries. The automated nature of chatbots minimizes human error in bookings and customer interactions. This precision enhances the reliability of your service, leading to greater customer trust and fewer resources spent on correcting mistakes.

In this article we discuss the benefits and top 8 use cases of chatbots in the travel industry. With smartphone adoption nearing 100% and considering that an average business traveller checks their smartphone 34 times a day, it’s not difficult to understand the popularity and attraction a mobile or virtual assistant holds. Technology has always played a pivotal role in travel and tourism operators, supporting the scheduling, booking, infrastructure maintenance, loyalty, and more. Receive accessible support wherever you are, whenever you need it, with a responsive travel chatbot available 24/7 to assist you effortlessly. By following these five steps, you can start transforming your customer experience with another support option that your busy travelers can use whenever they need it. The software also includes analytics that provide insights into traveler behavior and support agent performance.

• AI-enabled chatbots can understand users’ behavior and generate cross-selling opportunities by offering them flight + hotel packages, car rental options, discounts on tours and other similar activities.
• ChatBot is a highly advanced tool specifically created to enhance the customer experience.
• They gather essential customer information upfront, allowing agents to address more complex issues.
• The Bengaluru Metro Bot, available on WhatsApp, allows commuters to easily book tickets, check train schedules, and recharge their metro cards.
• Well, I hope to make life easier for you and your customers by introducing you to a travel chatbot.

This is where chatbots come in, helping to enhance personal experiences by giving the customer exactly what they want when they want it, and making the engagement as frictionless and convenient as possible. Flow XO is a powerful AI chatbot platform that offers a code-free solution for businesses that want to create engaging conversations across multiple platforms. With Flow XO chatbots, you can program them to send links to web pages, blog posts, or videos to support their responses. Additionally, customers can make payments directly within the chatbot conversation. Personalization and the fact that their conversations resemble live ones are essential when talking to chatbots.

In the search for the lowest prices and best deals, people scour through a multitude of websites and apps. A vast plethora of options from different sources all over the internet only confuses the customer, making them rethinking their choices/plans. Whether it’s on a website, a mobile app, or your favorite messaging platform, they’re the go-to for quick, efficient planning and problem-solving. They’re particularly adept at handling the complexities of travel arrangements, providing real-time support, and personalizing your journey based on your preferences. Chatbots act as personal travel assistants to help customers browse flights and hotels, provide budget-based options for travel, and introduce packages and campaigns according to consumers’ travel behavior.