Tongariro Crossing Shuttles: Chatbot Saves 189 Staff Hours in 6 Months

Moving up to 500 people per day to and from New Zealand's iconic Tongariro Alpine Crossing generates a massive volume of customer enquiries. Tongariro Crossing Shuttles (TCS) owner Andrea Messenger knew that unanswered calls and emails were costing bookings and damaging the customer experience.

Many enquiries originated in the Northern Hemisphere while the TCS team was fast asleep — the traditional customer service model simply couldn't work.

Andrea's lightbulb moment came at a travel industry conference where a speaker explained the power of AI chatbots to transform customer service at scale.

"I knew straight away that that's what we needed." — Andrea Messenger

Results: Far Beyond Expectations

"Yonder has exceeded all of our expectations, especially around the time saved. Last month alone, Yonder saved us around 37 hours of staff time. That's almost a week's worth of time for one team member freed up to focus on other things!"

In the first six months of operation, TCS saved 189 hours of staff time (approximately five weeks) — while also generating up to 147 click-throughs to the booking system per month during peak season.

At peak: 500+ conversations per month handled by the chatbot.

The Power of Automated Responses

TCS runs multiple shuttle services with various pick-up and drop-off points and departure times. The chatbot manages this complexity — trained to guide customers to the right option for their needs.

Up to 75% of enquiries are handled end-to-end with no staff involvement.

"The automated responses are worth their weight in gold for us, and are by far the feature we get the most value from. We set out to provide better customer service, and to better support international enquirers when they were in the research phase of planning their trip. And that's exactly what we've done." — Andrea Messenger

Customers now get real-time answers about bookings, departure times, pick-up locations, and weather — any time of day or night.

Quick ROI, Easy Setup

"It was money worth spending for the results we've achieved. We couldn't be happier. I wholly recommend Yonder. It's a great solution at a great price. It's been a wonderful addition to our customer service team."