How Hotel Gran Bilbao and Hotel Ciudad de Burgos increased their online check-ins by 200%
January 2022 – December 2023
58K
conversations
90%
automation rate
+200%
check-ins online
+5%
direct bookings
Introduction
In the changing world of hospitality, it is critical to communicate effectively with guests. Conversational artificial intelligence has emerged as a revolutionary tool for hotels to do so.
This case study focuses on the Hotel Gran Bilbao and the Hotel Ciudad de Burgos and their quest for excellence in guest communications using HiJiffy’s cutting-edge technology.
Leading hotel chains in more than 50 countries have optimised communication with guests thanks to the innovative technology powering HiJiffy’s solution. These hotels were no exception – by integrating the Guest Communications Hub into every stage of the guest experience, from pre-booking to departure, they achieved outstanding results.
This outcome was made possible by combining their unwavering commitment to the guest experience and their proactive attitude towards automation backed up with conversational artificial intelligence.
This report breaks down the challenges faced by Hotel Gran Bilbao and Hotel Ciudad de Burgos, highlights the solutions they adopted with HiJiffy’s platform, summarises the benefits achieved and presents additional testimonials from the hotels’ teams.
The Clients: Hotel Gran Bilbao & Hotel Ciudad de Burgos
The Hotel Gran Bilbao, located in Bilbao, Spain, stands out for its contemporary design and 202 themed rooms that offer a unique experience and a differentiated lifestyle concept. Its proximity to the historic centre and easy access to the main transport routes make it an excellent option for getting to know Bilbao and its surroundings. It is ideal for couples, families and professionals and is renowned for being the only hotel in the city with its own conference centre. The hotel’s focus on an authentic human experience is reflected in its commitment to the well-being of guests and employees.
The Hotel Ciudad de Burgos is located at the entrance to the city, just 10 minutes from the city centre, on one of the main European roads, the AP1 and A1. Tradition meets modernity in its 126 rooms that make you feel at home, and you can enjoy its excellent cuisine and service, as well as the spacious and comfortable facilities such as conference rooms, gym, and green outdoor areas.
A benchmark in the city for all kinds of events, business meetings, weddings, and celebrations with family and friends, the hotel has beautiful gardens enhancing the celebrations and making them unforgettable.
The Challenges
The two hotels were looking for a centralised, reliable and comprehensive solution to automate communications with guests and address several key challenges:
Pre-Stay
- Webchat automation
Need for a system to automate responses to frequently asked questions on the hotels’ websites, freeing staff from repetitive tasks and improving guest service. Achieving this also required maintaining the quality of customer service and high customer satisfaction.
- Increase direct bookings
The hotels looked for a platform to complement their efforts to increase their already significant 15% direct web booking rate to avoid high commission charges from online travel agencies (OTAs).
During the Stay and Post-Stay
- Low online check-in rate
With only 20% of check-ins online (via e-mail) at the Hotel Gran Bilbao, it sought to automate this process and increase its online check-in rate, using WhatsApp messages to reduce the workload at reception and improve the guest experience.
- Online check-outs for 2023
The hotels planned to implement online check-outs by summer 2023 to streamline the process, including paying outstanding bills online. As with check-in, the aim was to improve guest experience and reduce reception queues without sacrificing an excellent experience of both.
The Solutions
After analysing the technological solutions available for hotels, Hotel Gran Bilbao and Hotel Ciudad de Burgos chose HiJiffy’s Guest Communications Hub to address their challenges and achieve their goals. Since 2022, conversational AI has been enhancing the guest journey at both properties.
Why did you choose HiJiffy?
“We did a little market research, but what really convinced us were the excellent references from other hoteliers and the ability to promote a large-scale communication strategy with our guests via WhatsApp for online check-ins” said Raúl Amestoy, Director of Sales and Marketing of Hotel Gran Bilbao.
The hotel brand was able to seamlessly integrate HiJiffy’s conversational AI with other hotel technology systems already in place, such as Mirai (booking engine) and Class One (PMS).
Supported by HiJiffy’s Customer Success team, both hotels redefined their guest communications, implementing conversational AI to automate the following tasks:
- Answering Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
HiJiffy’s AI, specialising in over 200 hospitality-specific topics, responds to inbound queries instantly, 24/7, across multiple channels managed by the hotel brand, including web chat, WhatsApp and Google Business, in over 130 languages.
- Booking assistance
Conversational AI, seamlessly integrated with the booking engine, guides guests through the booking process for a seamless experience, vital for easy conversion.
- Sending check-in campaigns
An automated message to arriving guests with a link to the online check-in form and a warm welcome message encourages them to complete the process before arrival and avoid reception queues.
- Sending check-out campaigns
An automated reminder of the check-out time and instructions for a fully autonomous procedure via a link, as an alternative to completing the process at the hotel reception.
The Results
Let’s examine the key achievements related to the challenges outlined above. To do so, we use both data accessible in the dashboard and report areas of the Guest Communications Hub, and the information and observations provided by the two hotels, which enrich this case study.
90% automation of conversations using the chatbot
With over 45,000 conversations resolved at Hotel Gran Bilbao and over 13,000 at Hotel Ciudad de Burgos, 9 out of 10 guests have had automatic responses without requiring a reception or reservations team member to respond to potential guests.
This result is even more impressive taking in consideration that the average customer satisfaction score (CSAT) between the two hotels is 83%.
5% of web bookings in the chatbot and even more directly via the website
In addition to achieving an impressive percentage of direct bookings with the integration of the booking engine into the chatbot (5% in both hotels), together with other platforms, HiJiffy has positively impacted increasing the hotels’ direct online bookings.
It is important to highlight the increase of between 15% and 25% in the total number of direct online bookings for Hotel Gran Bilbao.
More than 200% increase in online check-ins
Prior to the implementation of HiJiffy, at Hotel Gran Bilbao only 20% of check-ins were done online. Today, this figure is more than 60% thanks to a WhatsApp message open rate of 81%, more than three times higher than any email campaign. In addition, queues at reception have been significantly reduced, and the guest experience on arrival is much smoother.
Surprisingly, despite having more senior customers who prefer to book through the offline channel, Hotel Ciudad de Burgos has also achieved a 200% growth in online check-ins, with an open rate of 84%.
20% of guests take advantage of online check-out
Despite only having implemented online check-out at the Hotel Gran Bilbao at the beginning of the summer, the hotel is already seeing that it is having a very positive impact on the guest experience at check-out as well. Letting guests check out via a link sent by WhatsApp has helped somewhat reduce queues at reception and the team’s workload.
Testimonials
“HiJiffy has enabled us to digitise and automate different processes in our hotels, allowing our teams to focus on what adds value to the customer experience and letting HiJiffy manage those automated processes that do not add value.
Thanks to the chatbot, we can automatically attend to user queries on our website, with a degree of automation and satisfaction of 90%, helping to reduce the number of telephone calls we receive.
And communication via WhatsApp, together with the integration with our PMS, has allowed us to reach online check-in rates of 60%, allowing us to eliminate queues at reception.
HiJiffy stands out for its ability to integrate seamlessly with other systems, such as booking engines or PMS, which is fundamental for automation to not only be guest-facing but also to impact our internal processes positively.
And finally, its extranet allows for detailed control of performance at both the hotel chain and group level, as well as at the independent property level.”
Raúl Amestoy — Director of Sales & Marketing at Hotel Gran Bilbao
“HiJiffy has been the boost that we needed for both Hotel Gran Bilbao and Hotel Ciudad de Burgos to help us achieve our online check-in and process automation targets.
Thanks to its In-Stay module, we can communicate with our customers via WhatsApp in the least intrusive and most convenient way possible, making their stay a positive online experience too.
The chatbot on the website has also helped us free up the reception areas of both establishments: when it comes to booking, most customers always have the same doubts, which a bot can solve at an extremely high rate.
This way, hotel staff have to spend less time on the phone or answering emails and can spend more time with their guests.”
Judit Segura — Communication at Hotel Gran Bilbao y Hotel Ciudad de Burgos
“Working with Hotel Gran Bilbao and Hotel Ciudad de Burgos is a pleasure. As an Account Manager, I took over these properties in 2022 and since then, we have implemented various solutions to improve the usability of our platform.
The communication and collaboration with the hotel team are exceptionally effective and highly valued. We have seen a significant increase in direct bookings made through the chatbot and more personal automation with the implementation of GPT-4 in the chatbot responses.
Campaigns sent via WhatsApp get guests to check in online, adding value to how the tool is used and how the hotel allocates its time with guests before, during and after their stay.
I can’t wait to see how our new developments can take this solution even further with both hotels and continue to bring value by working together.”
Ana Correia, Customer Success Manager at HiJiffy
Integrations with Technology Partners
Mirai Booking Engine
A modern and functional design, combined with a simple and user-centric interface to optimise conversion rates and customer satisfaction. Robust and efficient, Mirai’s booking engine is the best in its class. Enjoy the power of 25 years of experience in your hands:
- Easy, intuitive and practical: a process with the minimum number of steps to avoid losing bookings due to unnecessary hurdles.
- Secure and consolidated: a professional and stable platform.
- Compatible with multiple devices: desktop, tablet or mobile.
- Payment methods: possibility to set up different payment methods, either at the hotel, in advance, or according to the day and the offer.
- Constant updates: Mirai’s booking engine develops according to your needs, regularly adding new features and improvements at no extra cost.
- Customisable styles: Mirai’s booking engine adapts to the overall style of your website, ensuring a natural projection of your image.
PMS Class One
Class One and its Seven Stars system revolutionise hotel management by simplifying front desk operations with efficient data entry using a reliable tool. This system goes beyond being a simple PMS; it stands out as a Smart Hotel Management System, versatile and adaptable to different types and locations of hotels, standing out for its unique features.
Class One’s modular structure allows for exceptional customisation, offering detailed reporting, secure data management, and seamless integration with other hospitality technologies. It is the ideal solution for hoteliers aiming to optimise their operations and enrich their guests’ experience. Modules include advanced PMS systems, KPI analysis, Live Rate, Housekeeping Management, Maintenance Management, Accounting Tools and much more, all designed to boost efficiency and success in hotel management.
Ready to transform your guest communications?
Book a personalised demo with our team to discover how our conversational AI can boost hotel’s revenue while relieving your team of repetitive tasks.
