Chatbot, the traveler's best friend?

Chatbot technology has arrived in the travel industry with more possibilities than just checking flight status or hotel availability. Eventually, complete transactions will be possible, from search and booking to service throughout the entire process, including service evaluation and incident resolution.

Siri (Apple), Cortana (Microsoft) or Alexa (Amazon) were the pioneers. Now, artificial intelligence is an increasingly sophisticated resource that helps the user in multiple tasks through virtual assistants. Unlike a website, a conversation can be held and resumed later at the same point and at any time. An effective 24/7 tool that can be adapted to all types of services.

We can find chatbots in many sectors, such as health, with Gyant, one of the assistants to propose possible causes for certain symptoms; Ems, which helps to find an apartment with the characteristics expressed by the user; Ems, which helps to find an apartment with the characteristics expressed by the user; Gyant, one of the assistants to propose possible causes for certain symptoms; Ems, which helps to find an apartment with the characteristics expressed by the user;Mezi, which recommends products from numerous stores and can also be used to organize a complete trip with flights, hotels, restaurants or transfers. In the latter case, it combines artificial intelligence assistance with human intervention and its white-label option is being adopted by some TMCs.

Within the end-to-end model of travel management, chatbots have a lot to offer throughout the pre-information and booking phase, the stay at destination and post-trip. Many providers are incorporating it as a further customer service channel.

Air Europa, for example, has a Twitter-based assistant that provides customers with up-to-the-minute flight information.Destinia is one of the online agencies that are also betting on this technology, embedded in its Facebook page, which makes it easy to find a hotel. The Aerom Aerom Aerom xico  bot is operational on Whatsapp. With él, the airline solves frequent doubts, check in or send quotes. 

The generalization of this type of solutions avoids downloading the app of each provider, something that is increasingly valued by users who have the mobile phone saturated with tools. This is not to say that apps are on their last legs. They are still essential for frequent travelers, especially those who are members of a particular loyalty program.

 

Frequent flyer apps are still essential for frequent travelers.