Affective Benefit vs. Functional Benefit

As initially mentioned, the chatbot should always generate benefits from two perspectives: that of the hotel and that of the guests, thereby creating maximum added value. Hotels aim to offer their guests the most positive experience possible. When considering the benefits of chatbots for guests, they can be categorized into affective and functional benefits. Affective benefit refers to the emotional experience of the guests. If the interaction with the chatbot is entertaining or stimulating, guests will perceive this as pleasant and will automatically associate it with the hotel. Conversely, if the dialogue is cumbersome or boring, guests will remember it as equally challenging. Functional benefit, on the other hand, describes whether the interaction with the chatbot was helpful for customers. It concerns whether the chatbot was able to answer the questions and whether the interaction was useful. Can the chatbot provide the restaurant's opening hours in the hotel or recommend nearby restaurants within a few seconds? If so, this service also positively impacts the guests' experience. Together, affective and functional benefits constitute the guests' experiences with a chatbot. In practice, it may occur that one aspect outweighs the other. Therefore, a hotel chatbot should definitely be evaluated and designed from the guest's perspective.

Therefore, the hotel chatbot should match the design and tone of your brand, your wording, and your design guidelines, be targeted to your audience, and integrate optimally into your website.

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Dialogue Marketing

In the context of a chatbot, the customer experience is crucial. Users of your digital helper should receive a customer experience that matches your hotel and recognize a clear added value in the chatbot. The dialogues should be friendly and competent, much like the interactions they would have with employees of your company. An engaging dialogue that builds a relationship while quickly and efficiently leading guests to the desired solution or information is the goal of chatbot scripting.

In short: A good chatbot influences the conversion rate of the hotel website and leads to more direct bookings. Dialogue marketing, also known as conversational marketing, ensures that more website visitors are converted into bookings. By conveying unique features, special attributes, and the personality of the hotel, enabling direct communication, and establishing a direct relationship with guests, a chatbot can increase the conversion rate. Dialogue marketing involves what is known as pull communication, where potential guests receive relevant content at the right time, thereby making their booking decisions more swiftly. For example, if a guest inquires about wellness offerings, the chatbot can direct them to the booking page for offers in addition to providing an answer. This way, the guest finds all relevant information at a glance and is more inclined to book an offer directly.

Dialogue Management & Tone

Experience has shown that chatbots are particularly successful with guests when they communicate in an entertaining and result-oriented manner. When chatbots use emojis or humor, guests feel as though they are chatting with friends. This naturally entices users to accept recommendations or book additional services that the chatbot has suggested. Hotels can thus strategically use text to direct attention to specific services they want to highlight. The conversation should never lead nowhere. Instead, the chatbot should always have a suggestion for further searches or an overview of the hotel's offered services ready.

The use of guided dialogues via quick response buttons has proven very effective. Guests start the dialogue with a question and can then navigate through suggested responses in the dialogue, learning about other topics and offers. Chatbots that offer guided dialogues have higher interaction rates and thus also higher conversion rates. In DialogShift's chatbots, guided dialogues are already set up and do not require much time to create.

Moreover, it is important that the chatbot matches the design and tone of your hotel. Consider who your target audience is and what they expect from your hotel. Are you a trendy hotel in a big city, or a rural wellness hotel with many older regular customers? If the chatbot matches the brand of your hotel, the customer experience will be better.

Name & Personality

Choosing a name for your chatbot is a crucial step in its introduction, and this step should not be underestimated—after all, the name is the first thing your guests will notice about your chatbot. There are various options for naming: from neutral names like Max, to acronyms like Mona (My Online Assistant), to functional names such as "Digital Helper." Of course, you can also come up with a quirky name that makes your guests smile, or derive a name from your hotel’s name. Running a spa hotel? Why not name your chatbot Kurt!

A fundamental rule is: the more personal the interaction feels, the better the user experience and conversion rate.

In any case, when choosing your chatbot's name, ensure it matches the character of your hotel and your target audience. Consider how your guests prefer to communicate, what is important to them about your hotel, and what they expect from your service. Ideally, the design, tone, and name of your chatbot should form a cohesive personality. Generally, the more personal the interaction feels, the better the user experience and conversion. Therefore, we advise against using purely functional names.

‍Texts, Images, and Videos

Once you have established the personality of your chatbot, it's time to write the texts—that is, the chatbot's responses. It's crucial to keep the character of your hotel and your target audience in mind and tailor the text accordingly. Adjust how many and what types of emojis you use, whether you include GIFs, photos, or videos, and of course, whether you use formal or informal language with your guests.

When crafting the texts, think dialogically. After all, the goal is to facilitate a conversation between the chatbot and the guest. As is typical with chats and digital communication, users prefer short sentences and multiple messages instead of one long speech bubble.

At DialogShift, you have the significant advantage that the chatbots are already pre-scripted. You choose whether to use formal or informal language and simply adjust the suggested response options. This can save you many hours of text work!

Tips Based on Our Experience

• Introduce the Chatbot Early: The chatbot should identify itself as a digital assistant right at the beginning, explaining to guests who it is and what its task is. For example: "Hi! I'm Chatbot Billy and I'm here to help with any questions. By the way, you always book at the best price through our hotel page."
• Be Transparent: Hotels can prevent dissatisfaction by being transparent about their use of AI. A good chatbot reveals itself as a bot, offering guests the option to end the interaction and instead talk to the team.
• Context: Greet guests differently at various points in their guest journey. For example, the chatbot in the guest app might welcome the guest to the hotel and inform them about breakfast times and WiFi.
• Avoid Long Text Blocks: Since chatbots are often used on smartphones, where the number of characters is limited and the screen is small, too long text blocks can cause users to drop out and interrupt the interaction. As a rule of thumb, 3–5 lines per text block should not be exceeded. If more text is needed, it is better for readability to divide this into several small blocks.
• Keep It Short and Simple: Use short dialogues to keep guests engaged, and simple words that everyone understands. Do not assume prior knowledge on the part of the users.
• Reading Texts Aloud: Sometimes it helps to read the texts aloud and ask if someone would talk like that in a daily conversation.
• Quick Response Buttons: If adding quick response buttons, they should not be more than 3 short, concise, and clearly articulated options.
• High Interaction Level: Guests find conversations especially positive when they have a high degree of interaction. This makes the dialogue interesting and likable for them.
• Important: The Use of Media Elements such as videos, pictures, emojis, or GIFs enlivens the conversation and increases the interaction rate and conversion.
• Live Chat: Allow users to be connected with an employee if they wish.
• End of the Dialogue/Story: The end of the dialogue or story is also important. Here, small talk buttons that lead to an overview are suitable.