The global search engine giant that enables users to find comparisons for flights, car hire, and hotels has launched a chat bot that will allow you to access the aforementioned services from within Facebook Messenger.
The chat bot is designed to accept users’ queries on flights, finds the cheapest deal on the preferred route then auto-directs the user to the airline website to confirm their reservation and complete the payment. Precisely, Skyscanner does not sell flight tickets or book hotels directly but only aids the users to find the best deal then directs them to the hotel, car hire provider or travel agency to directly complete the reservation process.
The bot also responds to users’ queries on holiday inspiration. It searches the destinations you might be interested in based on where you are. Moreover, the conversation bot is so intelligent. By use of current search trends and real-time cut-rate offers, it can offer you a getaway inspiration by suggesting destinations for you in case you aren’t too sure where you would like to visit. Just tap “Don’t know” when asked for the desired destination.
A brief of what Skyscanner really is
As a brief recall of Skyscanner, the company was founded in Scotland back in 2003. It’s Europe’s leading travel search engine and the second largest globally after Kayak. Skyscanner is best known for flight-search, however, it also offers hotel and car hire search. Finally, the search engine giant has its headquarters in Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
Use the bot on both Messenger and Facebook Web version
The bot is readily accessible on Facebook Messenger by typing the word “Skyscanner” on the apps’ search field. Those without the Messenger app can also access the services of the bot via a URL that redirects them to the web version of the social media powerhouse.
Skyscanner, however, is not the first tech company to venture into launching a dedicated chat bot. The likes of Poncho, Foursquare, 1-800-Flowers and KLM had launched similar bots before. The company is just but the latest to adopt the automated customer support.
Chat bots are a hot emerging trend. In fact, a number of dedicated stores, where users can realize conversation bots, have risen in the recent past. Botlist is one of these stores.
This particular one found its way into Facebook Messenger last month when Facebook approved developers to directly access its toolkits and chat APIs to enable them design chat applications for companies that let them link with clients.
Skyscanner championing for a stress-free travel search
Director at Skyscanner, Mr. Filip Filipov, believes conversational chat and messaging economy are exceptionally important evolutionary features for the travel industry. Mr. Filip said it has been a top priority for his company to take a revolutionary approach when it comes to building a chat bot for Facebook Messenger. The company is dedicated to making travel search as easy as possible and believes the launch of the bot on Messenger platform will allow people search for travel in not only an informative environment but also in a fun way, he added in his comments on the announcement of the Skyscanner Facebook Messenger chat bot.