Qantas has announced the launch of Qantas Concierge, a Facebook Messenger bot that offers the national airline's customers personalised inspiration for their holidays.
This comes as part of a wider strategy to provide faster responses and more directly relevant information to customers through convenient and easily accessible channels.
Sales information and destination inspiration will be offered via the Qantas Concierge - and drawn from user information data this will be tailored in line with their interests, whether this is beach destinations or unique AirBnBs around the world.
The artificial intelligence-backed service will become more user friendly and effective over time as it is exposed to a growing number of interactions and conversations.
Qantas plans to expand the chatbot's capabilities throughout 2017 in the hope of eventually incorporating a full suite of concierge services including operational notifications such as itineraries, flight and gate change updates and boarding passes.
As such, it is intended to ultimately become a key support channel for customers, complementing the airline's existing suite of call centres and social media response teams.
Kristin Carlos, head of digital and entertainment for the airline, said Qantas Concierge will act as an evolution of the airline's customer communications, in addition to boosting the firm's presence on a hugely popular social media platform.
"We recognise that different people want to communicate with us in different ways. With over 15 million people on Facebook in Australia, growing our presence with the social networking service makes sense," she commented.
Ms Carlos added that the service should save customers the time and energy involved in planning a trip.
Group industry director at Facebook Australia and New Zealand Paul McCrory said: "Qantas is always exploring new ways to evolve its customer communication. We look forward to collaborating with them on exciting new projects and pioneering new ground in this space."
