The George is a luxury boutique hotel in the heart of Christchurch, New Zealand, overlooking Hagley Park and the Avon River. With a one-to-one staff-to-guest ratio and impeccable personal service, it's hard to imagine where a chatbot fits in — but it did, and quickly.
"The call to roll-out the Yonder chatbot on our website came during our super-busy Christmas period. I was very nervous about how much time it was going to take up, but it turned out that it only took 2-3 days of my time across a couple of weeks, so I was extremely happy." — Georgina Torrington, Director of Sales and Marketing
Building the chatbot's knowledge base — answers to 100 questions covering everything from carparking to the menu at the award-winning 50 Bistro restaurant — was easier than expected.
"The question list provided by Yonder was a 99.9% fit with our business."
Twenty minutes of online training was all that was needed to get The George's designated chatbot champion, Charise, up to speed.
"The Yonder interface is very intuitive, and very easy to use."
The George opted for Yonder's AI chatbot — combining automated responses with live chat capability, and connecting with The George's existing systems. Routine questions are answered automatically. Complex enquiries requiring a personal touch are escalated to staff, with a seamless transition.
"Behaviour is changing, and while lots of our customers want to talk to us, there are some who are quite comfortable talking with a chatbot. Offering a chatbot service on our website is about offering our guests choices."
Within 48 hours of going live, the chatbot had already uncovered a valuable insight: the website lacked sufficient information about The George's high-tea product. The website was updated immediately.
"The chatbot provides a different perspective and has given us rich insight into the user experience on our website."
First month results:
Georgina uses Yonder's built-in analytics to track bookings facilitated, total conversations, and bot resolution rate.
"I asked the team a question about how many times a day they answer phone calls or emails about routine things like whether we have car parking, or WIFI — and they quickly came around."
The George is a luxury boutique hotel located in the heart of Christchurch, New Zealand, and overlooks picturesque Hagley Park and River Avon. Luxury surroundings and attentive staff are the hallmarks of this upmarket, luxury hotel, which boasts a one-to-one staff to guest ratio.