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EasyJet holidays has revealed that customers are more satisfied with using the company’s AI chatbot to handle enquiries than with traditional phone interactions.
The holiday operator told the Abta Travel Convention, the UK travel industry’s flagship annual conference, earlier this month that satisfaction scores for its AI-powered online bot were eight percentage points higher than speaking to someone on the phone.
The AI bot handles around 45 per cent of enquiries made while customers are on holiday without requiring human intervention.
EasyJet said its cost of service had fallen by 10 per cent while holiday volumes grew by 22 per cent.
Matt Callaghan, easyJet holidays’ chief operating officer, told the convention in Madeira that the company developed the chatbot to provide faster, more personalised support.
“We’re a high-growth business, and growth creates a pretty obvious challenge,” he said, according to Travel Weekly.
“How do you continue to deliver brilliant, personalised customer experience and customer service as you scale, while at the same time making it easier, quicker for customers to get the help that they need?”
The technology works by remembering details of the customer’s holiday and accessing airport transfer times and booking information to provide tailored responses.
However, easyJet holidays said some customers still aren’t using the chatbot and continue to call the company instead.
To address this, easyJet holidays has made the chatbot easier to find, clarified the types of enquiries it can handle, and improved its responses.
Mr Callaghan said the company has also ensured the AI technology can provide accurate information for holidaymakers during incidents such as wildfires.
He said the chatbot can provide information based on live developments and transfer customers to a staff member by telephone or online chat when human judgement is needed.
EasyJet also announced it has launched plugins on ChatGPT to help customers search for flights, package holidays, and live flight statuses.
The tool works by logging onto the ChatGPT website or app and connecting the easyJet plugin.
Once connected, customers can search for flight and holiday information within their ChatGPT conversation.
The tool is a reaction to the growing use of conversational AI when planning a trip abroad.
A recent survey commissioned by easyJet found that 51 per cent of respondents have used AI to plan a trip, with a further 17 per cent considering doing so in the future.
Among those using AI for travel planning, ChatGPT was the most popular platform, used by 62 per cent of respondents.
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