Las Vegas – 3 May 2017 –
The Venetian Las Vegas launched one of the hospitality industry’s first Facebook Messenger direct booking channels – and the first for an individual hotel — offering guests the opportunity to book directly and securely through social messaging.
The Venetian’s direct social booking channel represents the first step for the brand in reducing interface friction, enabling guests to stay within their platform of choice as they gather information, ask questions and transact with the brand. The Venetian’s direct booking channel provides guests with real-time rates for desired dates, details on resort amenities and also suggests relevant activities and offerings. The app is designed to evolve through interaction, constantly creating a more seamless guest experience over time.
The initiative is led by Chief Marketing Officer Lisa Marchese, who continues to bring innovation to the guest experience at The Venetian Las Vegas. “As the social media space continues to evolve, we are excited to be a pioneer in using Facebook Messenger as a direct booking channel for guest reservations,” said Lisa Marchese, chief marketing officer at The Venetian and The Palazzo. “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. We always provide our guests the best rate through direct channels, carrying the booking experience into this app was a natural progession. We will continue to look for opportunities to combine responsiveness and guest discovery, anticipating the way guests want to interact with us going forward.”
The Facebook Messenger booking channel was developed in partnership with Let’s Rally, a Las Vegas local digital marketing agency that specializes in supporting hospitality clients with innovative product development. The platform utilizes Microsoft Cognitive Services, which includes the LUIS natural language processing engine. By automatically analyzing and learning the guests’ conversational patterns, the application will continually improve its vocabulary and functionally to serve the guests.