The travel industry is suffering the most from the symptoms of the coronavirus crisis. The world is now navigating through uncertainty and hotels and suppliers are all trying to keep their heads above water.
But smooth seas do not make skillful sailors! It is in times like this that we can truly see the value in what we do. Therefore, Asksuite feels very lucky to be able to help now the hotel industry with its digital agent, the Hotel Tech Award-winning AI chatbot.
Online communications are crucial during the social distance the world is forced to adopt. Virtual assistance is the best – and maybe only – way for hotels to be present for future guests and for potential guests to keep showing up. After all, this crisis will end and reservations will probably start to be made towards the end of the year and the beginning of 2021.
Since the pandemic is hitting North America and Europe very hard, Asksuite is offering for free a chatbot to hotels from these continents during this crisis. Hence, even if the hotel is temporarily closed, it can keep providing customer assistance to future guests, answering their queries and facilitating the booking process.
“We from Asksuite are totally committed to the mission of helping hoteliers to overcome this severe crisis. All of the sectors are working together in an effort to empower hotels through this difficult time,” said Rodrigo Teixeira, Asksuite CEO.
Right now, travelers have many questions regarding the effects of the pandemic:
cancellation and rescheduling policies, hotel hygiene procedures, information about local and hotel status are some of the frequent topics that are being asked.
Therefore, Asksuite included the COVID-19 topic in its chatbot: a fast and comprehensive way to answer all travelers’ questions 24/7 regarding the matter. Just see the example below:
Not only clients have instant help, but also the chatbot encourages them to reschedule their bookings. Hotels are already feeling a severe economic impact. Many clients are canceling their trips, which leads to serious cash flow problems.
Other advantages of technology during the crisis
With people at home, the resumption of reservations will be digital and more travelers will visit the hotels’ websites to check how the local situation is, what actions hotels are taking, and this is an opportunity that the Asksuite chatbot can benefit from.
The main purpose of this technology is to increase direct bookings. Today, 40% of chat requests are about room quotations. With the booking engine integrations, Asksuite’s bot provides instant quotations in real-time, giving assistance in the traveler’s language. For instance, if the traveler is Chinese, the bot will chat in Chinese.
What to do to get one?
If the hotel is located in North America or Europe and needs help to scale customer service this year, just go to this link and request the bot. It is available now for free until December 2020: https://content.asksuite.com/ask-for-help
The Change the Date Campaign
But that is not all. The coronavirus is attacking the hotel industry in different ways and Asksuite is constantly thinking about ideas to support the industry.
There have been already some isolated attempts from hoteliers to encourage clients to postpone their trips instead of canceling them. The company wanted to join forces and, for that reason, has created a campaign to help hoteliers, with practical applications, motivate clients to reschedule their trips. The name of this movement is #changethedate.
In this campaign, Asksuite has listed ideas that hoteliers can apply to encourage travelers to reschedule their trips. This free material can be found in this link, no form required: https://content.asksuite.com/change-the-date-en
About Asksuite
Asksuite is the global leader in hotel chatbot focused on increasing direct bookings with more than 1.500 hotels as clients. In January 2020, the company won the prestigious Hotel Tech Award as The Best Chatbot in the world in the hotel industry.
