CHUTE, NYC & COMPANY LAUNCH TRIP PLANNING DESTINATION CONCIERGE TRAVEL BOT
CHUTE LAUNCHES TRIP PLANNING DESTINATION CONCIERGE™ TRAVEL BOT TO ENABLE DESTINATIONS TO PROVIDE PERSONALIZED RECOMMENDATIONS AND INFORMATION TO TRAVELERS
Pilot program launches with NYC & Company to reach over a billion users through Facebook Messenger
NEW YORK – October 4, 2017 – Chute, the leading user-generated content platform for travel brands and destinations, is today launching Destination Concierge™, a bot platform for marketers to reach travelers at scale through mobile messenger apps. Piloting the launch is NYC & Company, the official destination marketing organization for the five boroughs of New York City.
According to Forrester, people spend 85% of their mobile time using the top messenger apps including Facebook Messenger, Kik, Slack and WhatsApp and already 2 billion messages are sent between people and businesses each month, including both automated and people-initiated. However, destinations provide travelers with information primarily through visitor's guides and websites, which can easily become outdated. Chute’s messenger bot can be white-labeled and allows travel brands and destinations to distribute their existing content through a new channel and one where travelers are already going for information.
“Our mission is to maximize travel and tourism opportunities throughout the five boroughs by providing resources for visitors to discover everything they need to know about what to do and see in NYC,” said NYC & Company president and CEO Fred Dixon. “However, today’s travelers are no longer just going to one resource or turning to visitor guides alone to research and plan. With so many outlets, it’s vital for destinations to be at the ready and reach travelers wherever they are.”
After someone engages the Destination Concierge™ bot, destination marketing teams can then follow up with those same travelers proactively with news, content updates, promotions, etc. Marketers are also able to extract powerful analytics from quantity and quality of conversations and popularity of various questions to then inform future bot content and even to better understand travelers’ needs.
“At Chute, our goal is to help travel brands tell better stories - whether that’s through using the earned content being shared about them by visitors during or after a trip or reaching potential travelers when they’re researching and planning,” Ranvir Gujral, Chute’s CEO said. “Today, the average wait time for a reply to a Facebook message to a brand is 10 hours. That’s unacceptable in a world where travelers have so many other resources at their fingertips. Desi Bot furthers our ability to give travel marketers a holistic suite of tools to reach people instantaneously during every stage of the traveler journey.”
For more information about Destination Concierge™, head to http://www.getchute.com/destination-concierge/. To experience the official New York City chatbot, go to m.me/nycgo.
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Contact: NYC & Company/Rachel Peace 212-484-1270
About Chute:
Chute helps leading brands and destinations tell better stories. The platform offers a holistic approach to authentic marketing - enabling marketers to discover user generated photos and videos with visual recognition, geolocation, and text search, and to get the rights to and publish across all marketing channels. Plus, customers can glean content and influencer trends and data. Chute’s clients include Wyndham Worldwide, Travel Nevada, The Ritz-Carlton, Universal Studios, SeaWorld, Pure Michigan, Norwegian Cruise Lines, and San Francisco Travel.
About NYC & Company:
NYC & Company is the official destination marketing organization for the City of New York, dedicated to maximizing travel and tourism opportunities throughout the five boroughs, building economic prosperity and spreading the positive image of New York City worldwide. For all there is to do and see in New York City, visit nycgo.com.