Finding and retaining good staff during peak season is one of the most persistent challenges in tourism. But smart technology like an AI Chatbot means you don't have to scale your headcount to scale your customer service. Chatbots and humans working together are the winning combination — and here's why more operators are making the switch.
There's a good chance at least one of your competitors already has a chatbot on their website. They're increasingly common — and increasingly capable. The new generation of AI-driven chatbots really work. They're particularly good at handling routine questions, doing so 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, freeing your team to focus on customers who need extra help.
The days of customers routinely ringing or emailing for basic information are on the way out. Research consistently shows that customers prefer to do business with companies they can message — and they expect instant answers when they do.
"Can I make a booking?" "How much does it cost?" "Where are you?" "What time do I need to arrive?" — these and countless other routine questions are easily handled by an AI Chatbot. Between 40–80% of questions are answered end-to-end by the chatbot, without any staff intervention. Think about how many emails and phone calls your team receives like this every week — and imagine those hours freed up for higher-value work.
Yonder's AI Chatbot can draw live availability data directly from your booking system, provide product information, share details about your latest promotional offers, accessibility options, cancellation policies, and more — all without a staff member needing to lift a finger.
The best AI chatbots offer a combination of automated responses and live chat, handling routine questions independently and routing more complex enquiries seamlessly to your team. That's the best of both worlds for you and your customers.
Beyond answering questions reactively, Yonder's Announcements feature lets you proactively address common questions before visitors even need to ask. Display targeted pop-up messages directly on your website — managed from your Yonder dashboard — to share today's weather conditions, last-minute availability, operational updates, or time-sensitive promotions.
During peak season when your team is stretched thin, this is particularly powerful. A well-timed announcement on your homepage or product page can deflect a wave of inbound enquiries before they hit your inbox — reducing pressure on staff while keeping visitors informed and moving toward booking.
Being forced to fill positions with under-experienced staff during peak season is something many tourism operators know well. The flow-on effect is inconsistent customer service — wrong information given out, leads missed, calls unanswered, emails left unread.
An AI Chatbot eliminates that risk for routine enquiries. Every automated response is on-brand, accurate, and consistent — every single time, regardless of who's working that day. And there's an unexpected bonus: new staff can use the chatbot themselves to look up answers to questions they don't yet know, cutting training time and ensuring responses stay on-point from day one.
The chance of losing a booking drops significantly with an instant reply. Up to 65% of customer enquiries are handled end-to-end by Yonder's chatbot, and typically around 10% of chat users — and up to 25% for some operators — click through to the booking system directly from the conversation.
64% of internet users say 24/7 availability is the best feature of chatbots. That's not just convenient — it's commercial. A chatbot reduces the email backlog that builds during busy periods, cuts call wait times, and keeps your conversion rate healthy even when your team is at capacity.
Consider a customer service team member handling 12 routine enquiries a day — each taking around 5 minutes to resolve including the call or email itself plus any follow-up. That's an hour a day that could be spent on something more valuable. Multiply that across your team and across the year, and the time savings from a well-configured AI Chatbot are significant. Many Yonder customers save between 20 and 100 hours of staff time every month.
Today's AI chatbots are a world away from the clunky, robotic tech of a few years ago. They use natural language, can be customised to match your brand, and are playing a larger role in tourism customer service than ever. Some of New Zealand's most iconic tourism businesses — including Hobbiton and Polynesian Spa — use Yonder to support their customers. See how in our case studies.
Ready to see what it could do for your business during peak season? Book a demo with Yonder.