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. April 01, 2017

Chatbot: your 24h receptionist by Guestjoy

Chatbot is a automated messenger where guests can ask questions and order services like they are chatting with their friends. In hotel environment, chatbot enables guests to check-in, send special requests or order room service. Many large chains are testing it (Starwood, Hyatt). You can see chatbots popping up here and there and it is very easy to understand why. We use Facebook messenger, Snapchat and Slack on a daily basis. We know the interface and it feels much more human than a website could ever. Chatbot offer many important benefits for the guest:

1. Familiar interface
2. No need to learn the interface of a new website
3. Guests can talk to a machine like they talk to their friends
4. Instant replies
5. Most questions guests have, are repetitive. This means systems can provide all the answers immediately.
6. Two-way communication
7. Chat enable hotels to ask feedback before guests leave the hotel, or remind them for instance that happy hour has started. This is something unheard of in the past as then you had to rely on printed materials.

But before you rush into firing your staff, be sure to analyze what are the stages of your guests' digital journey. How emails are sent out, what is contained within them, what happens after a guest has received the email. We at Guestjoy, have seen a very good response from early customers. Guests seem to like the concept of an automated assistant.

Conclusion Chat usage is growing fast. If hoteliers want to stay modern and keep up with guest needs, they need to start implementing new technologies. The smartest way to approach change is to combine chat with pre-arrival emails and a mobile concierge. A Hotelier's goal is to steer guests experience, not to react if something goes bad. Start engaging your guests even before arrival. Will the future be staff-free lobbies? Probably not. There will always be need for human touch.

ALAR ÜLEM, CEO OF GUESTJOY Alar co-founded Guestjoy in August 2014. Alar has an extensive background in B2B product development and service design. He has worked in largest regional Telecom companies where he was responsible of B2B business development and also largest regional IT solution provider (acquired) where he was responsible of service management. Before starting Guestjoy, he has started two other startups. Alar is a B.S. in Computer Science and MBA from Tallinn University of Technology.