How Can Chatbot Development Outsourcing Help The Travel Industry?

Like all other forms of modern economy, travel is also changing! Gone are the days when travellers would go through the painful drill of going to travel agents/experts and find out the best deals. In today's digitised world, everything happens with a click and chatbots are changing the way it is all happening.

Chatbot development outsourcing, can be a boon for travel companies and so many of them have already embraced this change. In this blog, we will try and cover the different uses of bots in this industry.

Important uses of chatbots in the travel industry

There is not one but four distinct areas in which bots can benefit the travel business. It is almost like bot technology has it's own niche which it is capable of serving fully (fully automated and glitch-free). According to Sabre, the broad areas of functionality are-

1. Booking help-desk- We already know several services like Skyscanner, Booking.com etc. which become your online travel agent and perform all necessary operations needed while reservations. All of them have Messenger integrated bots which help in reservations via different social media websites. Bots are more convenient because of their simplicity and conversational nature and often more effective in retaining clients better than websites/apps.

2. Better customer care and disruption management- This is particularly a company-centric benefit where companies can avoid negative feedback from being public. Chatbots provide a personal platform for grievance redressal. From the customers' point of view, bots rule out the tedious ordeal of finding out phone numbers or mail Ids for lodging complaints or get clarifications.

3. OTA- Chatbot development companies can be specifically told to work on the NLP aspect of the bot to suit individual company requirements. People often use complex phrases like, “romantic hill vacation” and a proper understanding of the geography, linguistics and other preferences of the clientèle can help the bot give the best results.

4. Local guide- The travellers today prefer seeing a place like a local would. Chatbots act as local guides by showing recommendations, becoming language buddies etc. They are gathering local information based on device location and 'speaking' the way they would to a localite!

In order to cater to this growing global clientèle, travel companies are making necessary changes and expanding. A study by Expedia, it is confirmed that while planning a trip, people visit up to 38 websites (along with the word-of-mouth technique) and if you have done this too, you will agree how tedious it is! Utilizing the power of bot technology, it is now possible to bring all these websites on to one platform and simplify the whole process as well.