Lodging Interactive Launches Live Chat for Hotels
Lodging Interactive, a digital marketing and social media engagement agency for the hospitality industry, has introduced CoMMingleLive, an industry-specific real time live chat service for hotels and resorts.
"In 2016, customer service has become the new marketing as social media networks continue to evolve into direct consumer-to-brand communication platforms," said DJ Vallauri, Lodging Interactive's founder and president, in a statement. "Our CoMMingleLive service enables hotels and resorts to humanize their properties and to build loyalty with customers by providing a level of online customer service never before experienced in our industry."
CoMMingleLive is provided through a combination of live chat technologies and live chat agents. All operations are handled in the United States, and agents are trained to engage with customers as an extension of the property's own operational team.
"As consumers we've all become comfortable with live chat services when shopping our favorite online sites, like Amazon or Best Buy, but when booking hotels online we're left with more questions than can be answered via hotel Web sites," Vallauri added. "CoMMingleLive bridges that tremendous gap and not only provides real-time assistance to consumers but also generates increased business for the properties."
During a three-month beta test, CoMMingleLive increased group RFP requests by nearly 40 percent and online direct bookings by 12 percent. Customer satisfaction levels and ongoing engagement also grew at a rapid pace.
"CoMMingleLive enables us to provide the highest level of customer service even before our guests arrive," said Ed Reagoso, general manager of the Wilshire Grand Hotel in West Orange, N.J., in a statement. "I've been amazed at the level of customer engagement we've been able to achieve, which helps us build long-term loyalty."
To implement CoMMingleLive, hotels just need to place a snippet of code onto their Web sites. The CoMMingleLive technology is fully mobile-enabled and automatically launches when consumers visit hotels' Web sites. The service captures the consumer's full name and email address prior to launching into the live chat session.