Can Hotel Chatbots Boost Direct Bookings?

Spoiler: It’s the best employee that you’ve never hired.

There’s a fine line between AI-powered hotel chatbots and your run-of-the-mill spam bot, so it’s understandable why hoteliers are wary of getting the help they need to run their website effectively. But the right chatbot in the right places can change your guest’s website experience forever.

Live chat can help:

• • Increase your direct bookings
  • Address issues instantaneously
  • Build a personal relationship with your guests
  • Up-sell add-ons
  • Be available 24/7

And much more, without you lifting so much as a finger.

On the other hand, when your hotel uses a chatbot incorrectly, you can inadvertently damage your reputation and your bookings. But we’ll talk about how a hotel can effectively use chatbots further down below.

So how can hoteliers make the most of this cutting-edge technology?

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Two Types of Hotel Chatbots

Officially, these chatbots will be related as “rule-based” and “AI chatbots”.

Or, we’ll call them simple and clever.

Simple Hotel Chatbots

The simple hotel chatbot works on a series of pre-existing rules and conditions. They process guest requests as “if/else” scenarios. 

However, not only are these chatbots limited in their interactions and suggestions, and if used incorrectly, they can also require your guests to input data again and again and again. In other words, they increase the steps required for the guest journey.

AI-Based Hotel Chatbots

A good AI chatbot should feel like a discussion with a proper employee.

They have the ability to extract information based on the language and intent behind a guest’s inputs. With their intelligence, they can also formulate smart recommendations that match the guest’s needs and direct them to the easiest solution, or information available. They may still use if/else conditions, but they tailor them closer to the guest’s needs.

They feel natural, comfortable to work with and they also continuously learn over time. Now consider that they work 24/7, and you’ll see that they are the fastest-learning employee you’ll ever have.

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The Benefits of Hotel Chatbots

Work Around the Clock

Automation can do so much for hotels. The least of which is providing a chatbot that works 24/7 to address visitor needs. From the smallest enquiries to the largest requests, you have a member of staff that has no need to eat, sleep or take a rest.

It’s a hotel manager’s dream – and it’s also the dream of your guests.

They no longer have to wait for an email, or kill time until a member of staff checks the computer. Hotel chatbots are on the clock and ready to go at all times.

Direct Bookings

Sometimes all a guest needs is a little encouragement.

With your hotel chatbot in the right place, a little advice can go a long way. The last thing that you, as a hotelier, want is for guests to come back looking for your hotel at a later date and to complete their booking through an OTA.

With a hotel chatbot installed in the right areas of your website, you can secure those direct bookings and stop paying more commissions! Of course, you need to have your chatbot in the correct areas of your website, but more about that down below.

Multichannel Integration

Reacting to guest queries manually is an unenviable task, especially with your hotel’s social media – it’s like a computer with too many tabs running. Who asked what, and when and why?

The best hotel chatbots can integrate with your social media channels. This has the added benefit of feeling more like a supportive conversation to guests. You can allow guests to get in contact through a variety of instant messaging channels and direct them towards your direct booking platform.

Personalised Support

Thanks to hotel chatbots, you can predetermine what guests are looking for at the beginning of the booking journey and continuously from that point onwards.

Perhaps your guests have a budget in mind? Maybe they are looking for something special? Or they could simply be curious about your amenities before they start examining the rooms on your website.

Your hotel chatbot can take their preferences, give immediate feedback and direct them to the bookings that will appeal to them the most. Without the added effort of scrolling through surplus information, the guest journey is vastly shortened.

Up-Sell Deals

Meals, restaurant reservations, discounted extra nights, room upgrades – every up-sell goes directly into your revenue and boosts your hotel profits.

Hotel chatbots have the power to up-sell to any guests or visitors to your hotel website. Simple chatbots without any advanced abilities have only one option: they spam the same upsells every time.

With the right hotel chatbots, you can tailor each and every one of these potential upsells and help boost your revenue management.

Languages

It’s a wide world out there, and guests deserve to visit your hotel. Unfortunately, your staff may not be proficient in every language.

AI has far fewer restrictions.

Hotel chatbots can now offer help and support across dozens of languages, and immediately select the suitable language based on visitor location and interaction. 

Knowledge

Your potential guests shouldn’t be left on hold while you look something up, or get in contact with someone who knows what is going on.

A hotel chatbot should have all the knowledge of your entire team at their disposal, and they can disperse it within a moment’s notice. Your guests will feel like they are being treated by someone who knows what they’re doing.

They, and you, will be in good hands with a hotel chatbot.

Prioritisation

Your hotel employees, while amazing at what they do, shouldn’t be stuck answering dozens of queries every day.

With the help of the right chatbot software, you can reprioritise your workforce. You can assign them to jobs that are overdue, deserve special care, or prepare for something new. It gives hotel managers the ability to work more flexibility with the workforce you have available at your fingertips.

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How to NOT Use Hotel Chatbots

Have you ever walked into a retail store and been greeted with an overbearing chorus of “Hi! How can we help you today?” from every single employee again and again and again?

It’s overwhelming, off-putting and more likely to deter guests from continuing along the guest journey.

The chatbot on your hotel website should be noticeable, but not distracting from the aesthetic of your professional web page. It should be easily available for guests, but not overpowering your other CTAs such as your booking engine.

You can also make it available only on certain web pages. If it’s likely to distract a guest from following through the conversion funnel – then it’s a liability. Depending upon your hotel website layout, you should think very carefully about how and where you implement the chatbot process.

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The Top Chatbot For Hotels

 

LiveChat Chatbots is a simple and beautifully designed tool for online communication between a company and its customers. Now your clients can contact you faster and easier than ever before. 

With a range of built in tools and integrations you get the best balance of quality and price. It’s an affordable chatbot solution for hotels that will keep working even when you are not. 

So grab those direct bookings today and boost your revenue management. If you have any questions – simply get in touch and talk with one of our specialists!