Sabre Offers Integrated Chatbot for Travel Providers

Sabre has launched a new customer care chatbot intended for use by airlines, travel management companies, and online travel agencies. Sabre said that designed in partnership with conversational artificial intelligence specialist Mindsay, the "virtual assistant" chatbot integrates directly into Sabre's global distribution platform, enabling it to automatically resolve a variety of requests, from basic inquiries to complex booking modifications.

according to Sabre, the virtual assistant enables airlines, travel management companies, and online travel agencies to resolve up to 70 percent of customer requests without including a live agent, thereby "significantly reducing" call and live chat volumes. With bots taking care of the majority of common customer queries, travel agents can concentrate on solving the most urgent and complex requests, Sabre said.

European OTA Kilroy is the first Sabre client to integrate the solution, using the chatbot to automate customer requests including modifying and canceling flights, qualifying refund requests, providing flight status, check-in information, and access to boarding passes and responding to commonly asked questions about baggage allowance, travel restrictions and other topics.