In the hotel industry live chat is used more as a tool to extend a hotel’s service offering into its online presence and as a weapon to win the fierce online competition for hotel visitors.
A wide range of online businesses makes use of live chat as a support channel for different reasons So how can live chat boost your hotel’s business?
1. You can answer a specific question about your accommodation
Live chat allows potential guests to ask you specific questions on which they cannot find an answer elsewhere. Imagine a light-sleeper guest who is in town just to make a presentation the next day. She doesn’t care about the view, all she cares about is to have a room with a sufficient level of calmness so she can sleep well and be fit for the big day tomorrow.
Most websites don’t have ‘noise level’ as a parameter on their site. Yet by indicating this need over the chat, your service employees can tailor her stay by giving her the quietest room in the building.
2. It adds a personal touch to your online presence
The website is the first point of contact with your hotel for most guests, so it makes sense to have someone to open the door for them – with live chat!
Your website is your hotel’s online reception desk, and it should offer the same experience online as its offline counterpart. How great would it be for there to be somebody welcoming and assisting them when they enter your website?
By integrating live chat on your hotel’s website, you add a voice to your online presence.
3. Efficiently increases online direct sales
A major issue that guests face while booking online is a disconnect from someone who can answer queries in real-time. The website’s FAQ’s feature fails to deliver the results that a live chat yields. Using live chat, hotels can tend to personalise requests, queries, etc. giving it a human touch, which in turn depending on the demographics of the guests, can efficiently increase online direct sales.
4. Get into proactive mode
If people are spending a lot of time on your website, it’s a good indication that they’re engaged and interested in booking with you.
However, it could also be that they have questions and are having a hard time finding the answers. In this case, you can set the live chat to proactive mode, through which a live chat window automatically appears after a visitor has been on your website for a specific amount of time.
By using this tool, you can decrease the number of visitors abandoning your website. Booking several nights at a hotel can be quite costly, so it’s natural for people to take their time in comparing and exploring different options.
Live chat can drastically improve results in your booking process and your customer satisfaction. Integrating a live chat service into your hotel marketing will give you an edge over your competitors and keep your customers satisfied. To know more about hospitality solutions and tools visit www.staah.com