Corporate Traveller is rolling out its travel chatbot Sam:] to its SME corporate travellers and travel arrangers across South Africa.
Sam:] is Flight Centre Travel Group’s Smart Assistant Mobile app, which was first launched to customers in the UK and US in 2018, and provides weather updates for the destination, information on their departure gate, flight time changes and where to collect baggage. The app will also suggest which restaurants and attractions to visit, alert travellers about traffic delays and will soon be able to connect travellers with a consultant via a live text or phone chat if the need arises.
The new version grants travel managers, PAs and bookers access to view their current travellers’ itineraries, as well as receive notifications about events that affect each traveller, such as flight delays or cancellations. The app also prompts travellers to report that they are safe via a push notification.
Sam:] is able to create a personalised, up-to-date information source for the traveller and allows for communication flow with the travel manager. Each user can share their travel tips with fellow travellers and the more a traveller uses the app, the more intelligent the chatbot becomes.
“Most TMCs only support a traveller reactively if they need a flight booking changed during the trip, or to send an impersonal or generic travel alert,” says Oz Desai, gm Corporate Traveller South Africa.
