One in three Irish people already use chatbots to help make travel plans
Research by travel search engine KAYAK.ie for its Mobile Travel Report – which investigates the impact of emerging technology on travel – has found chatbot use is shaping a new reality in the way travel bookings are made.
- 34% of Irish people have used a chatbot before.
- One in three Irish chatbot users have consulted their help to make flight or hotel bookings.
- Only 10% would consider bots more reliable than a human
The popularity and use of chatbots – computer programs that mimic a real person to answer users’ questions and queries over messaging apps like Facebook Messenger – is gaining popularity, according to new data from KAYAK.ie’s Mobile Travel Report, released today.
The report found that despite their relative recent appearance, over one third (34%) of Irish people have already knowingly used a chatbot’s assistance, and a further 12% say they may have done so without realising.
As is often the case with new technology, it is the younger generation that is embracing them the most – 55% of those aged between 18-24 say they have used a chatbot, compared to just 12% of those over the age of 65.
Amongst those that have used chatbots before, customer services has been the most frequent use (52%), whilst online shopping was next (38%), and travel searches being the third-most popular response (33%), notably higher than previous use of food or flower delivery (22%), ordering a taxi (12%) or making a restaurant reservation (11%).
Despite the majority being unfamiliar with them, many Irish people could see the benefits chatbots could offer when they were explained to them – 48% cited ‘no set service hours’ as a potential key benefit, whilst 47% mentioned ‘faster responses to questions’ than they could get by undertaking their own research.
However, many Irish people also appear cautious about using chatbots, with over three quarters (82%) flagging at least one concern, including:
- Data security (42%)
- Answers could be manipulated (27%)
- It wouldn’t understand me (27%)
- Prefer face to face communication (26%)
- It would provide recommendations that are not of interest (24%)
Whilst many may find it hard to believe that chatbots will catch on, one only needs to look at the rise of online travel agents and search engines to see how quickly users can adapt to new travel technology. With one in three (33%) Irish people curious to try out new technology, and only 8% seeing no potential benefits to using a chatbot, it seems there is plenty of potential room for their growth.
Suzanne Perry – travel expert at KAYAK, comments: “Chatbots are certainly still in their early stages, but are becoming increasingly sophisticated and getting ever-closer to mimicking a conversation with a real human being. At KAYAK, we love to embrace new technology and feel that chatbots will help meet increasing customer expectations and demand for around the clock information.”
KAYAK’s Mobile Travel Report also investigates differences amongst those who use the travel search engine’s website or app on Android devices or iOS (iPhone) and computers. It found that the most searched-for destination for iOS and Android users is London – whilst Los Angeles is the favourite destination for computer users.
iOS users were found to be most likely to seek out high-end hotels – 26% of all searches made on iOS devices were for 5-star hotels, compared to 22% on computers and just 18% on Android. Android users were also most likely to search for one or two-star hotels (12%) compared to 8% for iOS and 11% for computer users.
The report is based on survey findings in cooperation with Opinium, conducted across 11 countries in Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Spain, Italy, Poland, Russia, France, Ireland, The Netherlands) with samples of at least 1000 respondents per country. KAYAK Chatbot user stats are based on searches on all KAYAK Facebook Messenger Bots and KAYAK Skill for Alexa between June 2016 and April 2017. Mobile Traveller Profiles and resulting Traveller Personas are based on flight and hotel searches and clicks made on KAYAK.ie for travel in 2016.
Chatbot research conducted by Opinium Research for KAYAK between 24 – 28 March 2017 amongst 1,000 Irish adults (online interviews). The sample has been weighted to reflect a nationally representative audience
