With the booming technology sector and intervention of advanced, easy methods for travel booking, the traditional ways to book tickets through travel agents are declining and is soon to come to a downfall. Companies in travel business have lost half their workforces, and in such cases, it becomes imperative to revolutionise the techniques to improve customer experience so that the offline travel agency can thrive again. On an average, customers browse through 38 websites for their travel bookings. In such situations, there is a need and demand for personalised guidance and experts who tailor make plans which suits the “dream vacation goal” of the customer. This is where chatbots can play their part. Chatbots work through Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. They stimulate a human-like conversation in real time with the user. A chatbot depends on natural language processing to understand the human language.
So, here are the advantages that chatbots offer:
• They work 24*7: Although, this may seem as trivial; indeed chatbots provide the flexibility of working at any time of the day as they are virtual robots and do not get tired. They can also be made to work in any language, unlike their human counterparts.
• They save precious time: Gone are those days where one would have to travel to an agency office to book tours. Chatbots provide instant access to information just like customer service representatives. This enables the company’s workforce to focus more on managerial activities rather than the process work involved which can be handled by the chatbot. It also saves the time which customers spend in reaching out through the company helplines as the bot can be skilled enough to handle complex situations.
• Better customer care: Chatbots can be designed to solve various situations be it answering questions, solving queries related to bookings, providing package recommendations, etc. With more and more of the younger generation getting interested in travelling and technology, chatbots can be a very effective as well as a competent solution to all these issues. It is much more engaging than human interaction as there are no time boundaries and can handle multiple customers at the same time. Thus, it proves much better and faster than social media or mobile applications.
• Personalization: As a result of growing competition, companies are trying to differentiate their service from others and in such cases, chatbots can provide personalised inputs and customer experience leading to a great relationship with the customer. Chatbots remember the tastes and demands of the client and can also be used to improve user experience in the future. Instead of just being “search and book”, chatbots suggest important tips relevant to the destination, nearby events, exhibitions, accommodations depending on personal or professional reason to travel.
• Cost-effective solution: Bots can use AI to solve a lot of problems of different people but of routine nature. This means that they minimise operational costs to a great extent. It diminishes the need to outsource third-party customer care centres. According to new research, chatbots will be able to reduce business costs by around $8 billion by 2022. It also helps start-ups save money by skipping app development.
• Enable payments from inside a messaging app: Facebook recently allowed payments from inside the messenger app. Using a bot for payments means that customers need not follow a link to complete purchases or bookings on an online site. This simplifies the booking process which means higher conversion rates for the company.
• Increase in revenue opportunities: Chatbots are quick in providing information and attracts customers for bookings. Addition of coupons, offers, event tickets and payment gateways to the chatbot increase the revenue for the company through the commission earned. A survey showed that 69% of professional and 65% of holiday travellers preferred online bookings.
• 100% customer satisfaction: Chatbots are, after all, programs which obey what they have been taught through the code, and there is no possibility of the customer representative being rude and disrespectful to the client.
Thus, chatbots, service or nuisance? According to us, service. Today, it has become imperative to gain loyal customers by providing the best user experience. A small investment by the travel agency in a well-trained chatbot will go a long way in supporting and scaling up the business of the firm. It is an excellent step in pushing the industry forward and bringing a positive change.
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