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FACEBOOK MESSENGER IS HITTING ITS STRIDE AS A COMMUNICATIONS TOOL , BUT CHATBOTS AREN ’ T QUITE THERE IN TERMS OF INTELLIGENCE – ARTIFICIAL OR EMOTIONAL .
By BARBARA BOHN , MANAGING EDITOR
FACEBOOK ’ S MESSENGER APP helps 1.8 billion people keep in touch conveniently with each other – and with your hotel . Are king rooms available ? When exactly is that music festival ? We ’ re two pillows shy of a fort – send extras to Room 129 !
“ We are seeing a dramatic uptick in the amount of inbound volume that hotels have to triage or deal with related both to guests on property and very often to potential guests , who have made a booking – or haven ’ t made a booking – who have questions ,” says Benji Greenberg , founder and CEO of BCV Social , Chicago-based social media management and strategy company .
Messenger helps hotels connect quickly – not just delivering pillows but offering to send snack supplies to the troops . “ You can begin a relationship ,” Greenberg says .
ARTIFICIAL PERSONALITIES The use of chatbots guided by artificial intelligence to channel queries is steadily increasing – and increasingly improving . A single-purpose bot can guide customers through the sales funnel and redirect them to complete the deal , Greenberg says .
Hyatt Hotels Corp . recently introduced its Facebook chatbot , Hyatt Reservation Assistant . From it , users are directed to a mobile webpage to enter payment information securely ; they also can message a team of 55 trained agents to specify preferences and make other requests . It ’ s too early to share any meaningful data on the process , says spokeswoman Stephanie Sheppard .
“ The biggest challenge is that since chat and messaging are so instantaneous , we need to keep up with our guests ’ expectations for real-time responses – and even a few minutes makes a big difference ,”
“ THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IS THAT ... WE NEED TO KEEP UP WITH OUR GUESTS ’ EXPECTATIONS FOR REAL-TIME RESPONSES – AND EVEN A FEW MINUTES MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE .”
— STEPHANIE SHEPPARD , HYATT HOTELS CORP .
Sheppard says . The average response time for Messenger is 25 minutes , but often less – “ and we are continuously working to make this shorter ,” she says , at least partly through technology that routs content .
Sheppard says social media allows the company to have more conversations with guests each month , but other channels drive the most volume . “ We see opportunity for hotels to use Messenger as a regular means for guests to interact with hotel staff at their particular location ,” she says , adding that the World of Hyatt app is used for this purpose .
Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts doesn ’ t use chatbots but is piloting a chat feature through its app , although Facebook is a growing source of revenue . “ Year to date , we ’ ve seen an increase of almost 70 % in revenue from guests who have connected with us on Facebook as part of their online journey ,” says Felicia Yukich , senior director , brand strategy , social media and content .
HUMAN TOUCH Meisha Bochicchio , marketing specialist at Fuel Marketing in Myrtle Beach , South Carolina , works primarily with local independent destination properties . Her clients are finding that the more specific the questions from guests , and the more follow-ups by the hotel , the bigger the opportunity to convert the conversation to a booking . Web analytics tools can help properties determine where customers are coming from .
No matter what , Facebook is still considered a casual enough medium that a human “ touch ” will always make a difference . “ I think a lot of hotels both overthink and under-think social media , and at the end of the day , it ’ s supposed to be fun ,” Bochicchio says . “ People don ’ t come to Facebook because they want to be sold to . You ’ re competing with people ’ s friends and families and cat videos .”
July-August 2017 hotelsmag . com 57