Situated in the heart of Paris, Hotel Baume has installed a room booking chatbot on its website to optimize customer engagement and conversion. The hotel chatbot is a personalized help, which has a positive impact on its brand image. It also boosts the hotel’s direct sales.
Objective
To reply instantly to client questions
When Daniel Doppler of The Colossal Factory, specialized in the digital transformation of the hotel industry, introduced her to Zoe, a smart virtual agent, Sylvia Harrault, Director of Hotel Baume, a 4-star Parisian hotel, didn’t remain indifferent. “We welcomed the innovation” reveals the Director. Zoe was deployed on the hotel website in December 2017. She has been assisting guests, since. The chatbot, accessible 24×7, reinforces the customer service of this hotel comprising of 35 rooms and suites. “Zoe helps customers find the precise information that they seek, easily” explains Sylvia Harrault. The hotel also offers a contact system via SMS.
Means
A back-up email alert
Zoe appears at the bottom of the screen and offers help. A user who visits the website and plans a stay can ask her what he wants to know. 3 scenarios are possible. 1- Zoe answers correctly and the customer books. 2- Zoe answers correctly and the customer exits. 3- Zoe doesn’t have the answer and requests human help after collecting all the necessary customer contact details. In cases 2 and 3, the team receives an email or a visual alert when Zoe does not know how to respond. “We take over barely a conversation a day,” assures the Director. She has trained her staff to step in when the need arises. Meanwhile, the chatbot auto-learns constantly from the conversations that it engages in. “Apart from a few early technical bugs that are already forgotten, the biggest challenge was that the receptionists understand that a different level of language was expected,” narrates Sylvia Harrault. A more direct language, lighter in polite phrases. According to The Colossal Factory, the service would come to less than 200 Euros a month, including services such as integration to Facebook Messenger.
Results
More direct bookings and optimization of the hotel’s image
A year after implementation, the GM is pleased with the benefits reaped. 71 booking requests, representing 261 nights, were registered between July and November 2018. In reality, for a 35-room hotel, 3 to 8 conversations take place daily, with 4 interactions on average. The room booking chatbot speaks French, English, and Spanish. However, the principal advantage remains that “Zoe brings clarity. Even if the reservation is not confirmed, the reputation and the experience on our website will be positive,” explains the hotel. “People feel that they have been guided. This corresponds to the image that we want to convey. Eventually, we are winners.”
If you’d like to discuss more about our room booking chatbot in the hotel industry or have questions about artificial intelligence, please visit our website or contact Benjamin Devisme at bde@quicktext.im.
This article was originally published in French.
