Sarah Feldberg
First. The word looks mighty fine in a press release, which is likely why it appeared twice in the opening sentence of a recent statement by the Venetian Las Vegas touting the resort's foray into "conversational commerce." The Venetian is apparently the first individual hotel to offer direct booking for room reservations through Facebook Messenger.
Facebook began enabling in-app payments to Messenger chatbots (computer programs that simulate conversation) last September. Today there are reportedly around 100,000 chatbots on the platform, including newsbots like Tech Crunch, which sends a daily digest of stories, and metasearch engines such as Hipmunk, which enables users to search for flights or hotels rooms inside the app.
The goal for Facebook is to make Messenger, which already has 1 billion monthly users, the nexus of digital chat interactions; a one-stop shop where users can conduct business, converse with friends or even make voice and video calls. The goal for the Venetian is to anticipate how customers want to interact with the brand and be ready at guests' fingertips wherever they decide to explore.
The Venetian's Facebook Messenger chatbot will now let you reserve a room right in the app.
"Messaging apps have surpassed social networks in terms of monthly active users, and we saw Facebook Messenger as an immediate and authentic way for our guests to engage with our brand," said Venetian and Palazzo chief marketing officer Lisa Marchese. "We always provide our guests [with] the best rate through direct channels; carrying the booking experience into this app was a natural progression."
Open a chat window with the Venetian Las Vegas and the bot offers an abbreviated menu of options, including Book a Suite, About the Venetian, Our Pools and Pets & Policies. Type "pet" into the "conversation" (let's be honest, it's not exactly a thrilling dialogue) and the bot immediately responds with the resort's pet policies and perks.
"Can I help you book a suite?" it asks, complete with a winky-face emoji. Say yes and the bot walks you through a series of basic questions: check-in and checkout dates, number of guests in your party, how many beds are required. Once the details are established, up pop room options: a Luxury Suite for $199 per night or maybe a 1,400-square-foot Piazza Suite for $349 per night.
The bot should even learn from its guest interactions, providing better service over time.
For now, for most people the Venetian's Messenger chatbot might feel superfluous when there are so many avenues available to explore the property and reserve a stay. But should Messenger become your app of choice — pushing out other, more specialized apps in favor of chatbots that will help you find a flight to Portland, Oregon, or a pasta salad to make for dinner — the Venetian bot is a fairly simple, intuitive way to reserve a room or plan a day by the pool.
And if you're more interested in researching Strip casinos before you decide where to book a bed, well, there's a chatbot for that, too.