Chatbots, at their core, are virtual personal assistants. The truth is that the interactions between the user and the chatbot might last only a few seconds and with such a low window of interaction, it is key for the hotel to provide a quick sense of friendliness on the spot.
With the power of AI, chatbots are being designed to mimic human interactions so that the user feels like he is chatting with a real human, even though he knows he is not.
The chatbot name is one of the very first things the user reads when he starts chatting with your hotel so if your chatbot is called something like a personal assistant or front-office chatbot, it will automatically feel impersonal.
Why do hoteliers give names to their chatbots?
Naming the hotel chatbot can help hotels to add more meaning to the guest experience:
- Humanized – When chatbots have a name, guests find them more humanized and, as a consequence, tend to interact more and get a better experience.
- Approachable – A name creates identity. And identity leads to familiarity. For that reason, chatbots with a name feel more approachable to guests.
- Personalized – Giving a name to the hotel chatbot is a good practice to personalize customer conversations. Such virtual assistants are able to build an instant bond with whosoever they interact with.
- Natural – Guests are never comfortable talking to a robot. However, when the bot has a name and uses a humanized speech, the conversation feels much more real.
Women are the biggest part of the UK’s accommodation industry workforce
According to Statista, the accommodation industry in the United Kingdom is composed by 56% of women and 44% of men. In fact, in June 2017, around 261,000 females worked in the UK accommodation industry, compared to 206,000 male workers.
Now the question is: will virtual assistant naming trends follow these statistics?
Considering HiJiffy’s data, the answer is yes. Giving the chatbot a female name seems also to be the trend.
63% of hotel chatbots have female names
In fact, 63% of HiJiffy’s clients give a female name to their chatbots.
Some of the female chatbot names we can find among HiJiffy’s clients are: Alice, Bella, Carrie, Charlotte, Eva, Maria or Julia.
In the other hand, only 1 in each 3 hotel chatbots have male names.
Some of the male chatbot names we can find among HiJiffy’s clients are: Bob, Gorka, Henry, Oscar, Robert or Steve.
More than just a name, a positioning
“When naming their chatbots, hoteliers must bear in mind that a funny name will give the sense that their hotel is an informal hotel and a formal chatbot name will make the user feel the same way”, advises Tiago Araújo, HiJIffy’s CEO.
“To escape from the male vs. female dichotomy, hoteliers can adapt the hotel name to a chatbot name. If the hotel name is ‘Cool Hotel’, then maybe the chatbot can be named Cool…right? At HiJiffy we have hotels like Reserva Alecrim calling Alecrim to their chatbot, or Vila Galé Hotels going for Galé as the name”, he adds.
