C4A Expert invited to talk at Travel Technology Initiative

Click4Assistance was recently invited to speak at the Travel Technology Initiative (TTI), an organisation dedicated to helping the industry develop its technological foundation. Our sales director, Jill Stephens, will discuss the potential of chatbots for the sector at 12:10 PM on Wednesday 14 September 2022. Her talk will also cover best practices and some of the pitfalls travel sector companies will want to avoid when using the technology.

Click4Assistance’s Chatbot Technology In The Travel Industry

Click4Assistance sees tremendous opportunities for chatbots in the travel industry going forwards. We believe that they are coming of age, finally gaining a degree of functionality that makes them a commercial imperative. Machine learning is allowing bots to have basic conversations with holidaymakers across a range of topics, providing them with timely advice and assistance.

Click4Assistance’s chatbots come in two forms. The first uses natural language processing to understand users’ questions. This way, users don’t have to ask questions in a standard format. Instead, they can just ask naturally, using whatever grammar or vocabulary occurs to them as they type.

For instance, suppose a holidaymaker logs onto a flights and hotels website and wants to know how much it costs to fly to Barbados. With an outdated “expert systems” approach, they would have to ask the question in the right way to get a response from the machine. But with natural language processing, the format of the question doesn’t matter: they can still get a helpful answer. For example, both “how much does a flight to Barbados cost?” and “What do I have to pay to get to Barbados by airplane?” will yield the same answer.

The second type of chatbot from Click4Assistance is a form bot. These use structured forms to help and guide users, including on travel websites. How they work is simple. Bots ask visitors a standard set of questions that then direct users to where they need to go, depending on their answers.

For instance, a form bot might appear on the bottom right-hand side of a travel agency’s home page and ask a question such as “are you looking for domestic or international hotel deals?” The website user could then either click “domestic” or “international” to get forwarded to the best packages.

Why Present At TTI?

Click4Assistance’s chatbot technology is particularly relevant to TTI. The organisation argues that the travel industry is, in essence, an information industry. While there is some physical consumption, such as flights and hotels, much of the sector’s work involves using, transferring, and leveraging data. For instance, when a customer books a flight or hotel stay, the service does not yet exist. Rather, the holidaymaker receives an IOU, such as a ticket or email reservation, which they can then redeem for services later on.

The first computer-based solution for the travel industry was the Semi-Automated Business Research Environment (SABRE), TTI points out, which was launched in 1964. The reservation system made it possible for airlines to keep track of booking levels on their aircraft and prevent over- and double-booking.

Later, during the 1970s, the UK travel industry adopted Viewdata. This screen-based system lets travel agents connect directly to tour operators’ systems to view pricing, and availability and to make bookings. The need for brokers to make direct phone calls virtually disappeared overnight.

From the 1990s onwards, the internet transformed the travel industry into the modern behemoth we know and love today. Instead of going to a travel agent, holidaymakers could simply click on the holiday they wanted and book it through online portals. Chatbots are simply the latest in a long line of technical innovations.

In light of this, Jill will discuss how integrating chatbots into website pages can improve the customer experience. Right now, customers are expected to know how to use the new travel technology that has arrived in the last twenty years. However, Click4Assistance’s products offer a solution. Instead of navigating complex booking sites manually, chatbots can provide users with real-time assistance, helping them get the best deals possible or find packages relevant to them.

Jill will also cover the ability of chatbots to make the travel industry more efficient. Rather than calling up travel companies for answers, she will explain how holidaymakers can get them from chatbots instantly, freeing up travel reps for higher value-added tasks. Chatbots will serve as a kind of gatekeeper, handling routine queries while forwarding more serious enquiries to person-operated contact centres. This form of triage has the potential to reduce labour costs and enhance worker satisfaction.

Chatbots are also available twenty-four-seven, another benefit over human reps. Customers and holidaymakers can interact with them at any time without needing to queue. Unlike human reps, chatbots can talk to multiple holidaymakers at once – ideal for travel companies trying to manage difficult situations, such as cancelled flights.

Jill will explain other benefits, too. For instance, chatbots can collect valuable information about clients before forwarding them to an agent. This feature is helpful in all industries, but it is particularly beneficial in the travel sector where customer queries can be complex. Chatbots, for example, can ask customers about when they are travelling, where they want to go, how they intend to get there, and even why they are going in the first place. Agents can then use this data to provide the best advice and services.

Wrapping Up

What’s so exciting about this talk is that the technology is already ready. Click4Assistance’s software is already operating in the field, including in the travel industry. The ability to pose questions to a machine and get helpful answers is no longer a technology of the future, but one of the present.

We are looking forward to Jill’s presentation and hope that it will alert the industry to the potential of the technology. Chatbots are no longer in their infancy; they have come of age.