Travelers today expect a lot more from their internet research, planning, and booking experiences than they ever have in the past.
To be competitive, there is an increasing need for suppliers in the travel sector to update their operations. One approach to accomplishing this is? Live chat.
With social media, WhatsApp, and other instantaneous services, today’s guest demands rapid pleasure in their personal lives and customer service.
When there is an easier, quicker alternative, it is nearly inconceivable for some travelers to pick up the phone and call another nation. Your vacation rental website would benefit from adding an online live chat. It can assist in quickly resolving questions from visitors and even encourage them to make a reservation!
Here are our top five arguments for why you, as a vacation rental proprietor, require live chat on your website. Hint: it can significantly increase rental bookings.
1. Live chat gives websites a human touch
The majority of travelers rarely make impulsive hotel purchases. Before deciding on a vacation rental, visitors will take their time weighing their alternatives, checking reviews, and—most importantly—asking the owners any questions they may have.
Live chat enables instantaneous chats with prospective guests to clarify doubts and respond to their inquiries. With no need for costly phone calls or drawn-out email exchanges, it allows you the chance to give your brand a voice and a human touch.
According to research, 83% of customers who made an online purchase need assistance from live support. Installing a live chat widget on your vacation rental website can ensure that you are available to guests when they need you the most.
2. It is suitable for those with limited funds.
Because of its affordability and simplicity of being able to reply to inquiries almost immediately, live chat is quickly replacing other communication methods as the preferred choice for travel agencies. There are an increasing number of free programs accessible, such as Tawk. To, along with several online chat companies that only charge a few dollars each month.
When you don’t have to worry about paying exorbitant rates to return international calls, you can concentrate on providing excellent customer service and controlling visitor expectations.
3. Proactive live chat makes it simple to engage visitors.
Including a chat widget on your website can encourage visitors to get in touch with you immediately rather than waiting for them to contact you. The phrase “proactive live chat” describes how the technology actively initiates a dialogue with a website visitor or potential guest.
Reactive live chat, in contrast, is initiated by the user by selecting an option to speak with an agent.
Active live chat can increase engagement by almost four times. When a user has doubt or thought, this targeted targeting can help them rapidly receive the information they require and, as a result, help them earn more reservations.
4. It motivates visitors to complete their reservations.
According to statistics, 38% of customers completed a purchase due to a fruitful live chat exchange, and live chat can reduce shopping cart abandonment by up to 30%. These kinds of figures might significantly increase your bookings with minimal work.
Potential guests may be more likely to book their reservations when urgent inquiries are promptly addressed.
Additionally, you can use live chat on other sections of your website for various purposes. For instance, you could design a proactive message to alert your website visitors on your homepage about ongoing sales or one to inform them about exclusive nightly rates on your prices and availability page.
It can also affect their decision-making if they get these signals right when looking for information.
5. You’ll keep up with the competition.
Look at the websites of some of your rivals to see what they have in common. We anticipate that they haven’t yet implemented live chat.
You have a significant advantage over other vacation rental operators who are only starting to understand the advantages of using technologies like live chat.
“Your team can be nimble with live chat and connect with more than one traveler at a time, in real-time, while your comp sets reservation teams are still slogging away call-by-call, and their front desk personnel is slowly responding to emails from the day before,” said Tambourine.
The Chat Shop claims that integrating live chat increased sales for a major hotel chain by 34%. Additionally, a staggering 42% of customers said live chat is their preferred way to get service, and 63% stated they’ll visit a website again if it has a live chat available.
Adding live chat to your website will improve your chances of leaving a favorable first impression on visitors.
