AI can ‘free up’ employees to offer better customer service

Touring and adventure sellers can use AI and technology to release staff from mundane tasks – but employees will always be needed for their human touch, delegates heard at the Association of Touring and Adventure Suppliers (Atas) conference.

 

Debbie O’Neill, Jules Verne managing director, said: “In travel, people want a human connection.

 

“AI can’t feel emotion. It can mimic emotion, and it does a good job [but] you can’t lean into tech all the time.

 

“The future of customer service is not faster. It’s deeper.”

Commenting on the rise of chatbots and AI, she said: “We have become conditioned by society to expect immediacy – Amazon Prime, Deliveroo and checking in online. We are all getting really fatigued with this.

 

“We need to blend tech with empathy…so it frees us up to be more human.”

 

Nicki Tempest-Mitchell, Barrhead Travel managing director, agreed, saying: “With adventure, you’ve got three or four complicated elements of a holiday, so you can’t use chatbots for that.

 

“From a service point of view, when things go wrong, there is nothing better than the human touch and speaking to somebody to resolve it.

 

“There is a place, though, for tech and AI.

 

“How do we get rid of all the mundane tasks for our people, to allow them to do what they’re brilliant at, which is selling and servicing our customers?”

She said the agency group has made AI developments over the last 12 months, with more in the pipeline, to help free up staff.

 

Nicki Goldsmith, Virgin Atlantic global agency sales director, noted how the airline is a “people-centric business”, adding: “We have built our whole business on that personal interaction.

 

“We will use AI behind the scenes to take out repetitive work, which does bring benefits to the customer…when we look at some back-of-house functions, it will bring huge amounts of value at the point of booking – but we don’t see robots taking over.”

 

They all emphasised the importance of human empathy when dealing with complaints or problems.

 

Tempest-Mitchell noted the agency’s Trustpilot score is 4.9 out of five, adding: “When things do go wrong…just own it, fix it and get the customer happy again.

 

“Having brilliant service from the suppliers is absolutely critical.”

 

She did not feel accreditation with the Institute of Customer Service (ICS) was needed for her agency: “Every business has to decide what’s the right avenue for them. We have a clear sales and service framework, which we measure internally and externally with our customers, to make sure it’s absolutely right.

 

“The last three years have been record-breaking for us. So [not being in ICS] definitely has not impacted business.

 

“The management team has been trained around making the right decisions for that customer. If we fix that issue, that customer will be loyal to us for life.”

 

Barrhead has also invested in touring and adventure over the past three years, creating ambassadors to “cascade” information from suppliers throughout the business, and sending agents on more than 40 fam trips this year to destinations such as Costa Rica, Sri Lanka and India.

 

Virgin Atlantic has also turned its attention to the touring and adventure sector after seeing success with a focus on the cruise market.

 

Goldsmith continued: “Our new brand campaign ‘be a rainbow in the clouds’ is very much about connecting.

 

“We give a very personal service. We invite our people to be their true selves [and] bring our own personalities through our brand values.

 

“That translates to our customers, and they love it.”

 

O’Neill agreed, saying: “It is important to have that human touch.

 

“When our customers or agents are talking to us, we try to keep it simple.

 

“We focus on how we might feel in that situation, particularly things go wrong…we allow that to guide us.

 

“We have really high levels of empathy. We just try to be human.”

 

Asked about ISC accreditation, she commented: “I’d love to see more recognition for human centred brands, which is what we are.

 

“Human centred values are more around empathy and emotional connection. How would you measure that? It’s really difficult to measure.

 

“It translates into our Feefo scores. We have ‘platinum’ trusted service Feefo award.

 

“We’re focusing on how we make people feel working at Jules Verne, and that naturally flows through to the customer or the agent.”