At Arc la Rambla, a central yet quiet refuge along Barcelona’s famous La Rambla, guests have 98 room options tailored to various needs and preferences.
The location of this boutique hotel couldn’t be more ideal. Guests are at the epicenter of some of Barcelona’s most iconic sights. From here, it’s an easy stroll to landmarks like the Columbus Statue, the grand Cathedral, and the whimsical architecture of Güell Palace. Barcelona’s public transport options are equally accessible, making Arc la Rambla a prime choice for travelers seeking to immerse themselves fully in the city’s charm and culture.
We sat down with Gemma Piñol Torné, revenue manager and Anna Pascual e-marketing manager to talk about their experience with Velma, the deep learning virtual assistant from Quicktext:
Your hotel is situated in one of the world’s top destinations, that means communicating with guests from around the world?
Yes, our clients are 90 % leisure travelers… 70% from North America, then the UK, France and also Italy for the main parts… To be able to address our clients quickly and accurately in their own languages via Velma is a big plus.
Does Velma meet your business needs effectively?
Most questions are about room types and amenities, check in and check out information, we also have special requests about transfers, cruises and excursions. Long story short : 90% of questions are answered by Velma to our guest’s satisfaction, which is taking a big load off our staff…
How responsive is the Quicktext support team to your inquiries or issues?
Velma, like us, is constantly learning from clients’ interactions and evolving… Therefore support is crucial and your team has been very responsive and proactive in ensuring that Velma has been well integrated with our booking engine and remained operational 24/7.
Have you seen tangible benefits or improvements in your business since implementing the solution? Can you quantify the ROI (Return on Investment) of using this solution?
We have increased direct revenue by 10% by automating all basic and semi-basic requests… It translates to 1300 guest’s conversations handled converting 286 bookings requests representing 1661 nights for a revenue of 289 000 €.
Automation does not mean auto-pilot: we check the dashboard every morning… Some difficult questions about the age of the guests need to be treated by a human.
The ROI has been very positive, the increase in direct bookings more than compensating for the cost of the solution.
Did Quicktext provide sufficient training and resources to help your team make the most of the solution?
For the moment only us two are trained to use the tool. It is a very easy platform to learn.
Are there any additional features or enhancements you would like to see in future updates?
Yes, this feature likely exists, but we haven’t implemented it yet. Currently, when a client leaves a conversation with Velma, the only way we can follow up is via email. While email provides a way to reconnect, it often takes time on our end to send and, unfortunately, isn’t always read by the client. This creates a gap in communication that we’d like to close.
Overall Satisfaction
Overall, I would rate our satisfaction with Quicktext at 10 out of 10.
