MONTREAL — Smooch by Zendesk today announced the release of 'State of Messaging: Travel', a new interactive report on the ways modern messaging is enabling both legacy and startup travel brands to transform customer experiences.

Following Smooch's State of Messaging 2019 report, which included insights from over 30 distinguished experts at the forefront of the conversational revolution, State of Messaging: Travel looks at the entire travel customer journey, from pre-booking to post-stay, and how, with the recent launch of enterprise messaging platforms by WhatsApp, Apple and Google, travel brands are leveraging messaging and chat to offer personalized, convenient and frictionless experiences at scale.

The free, web-based report invites the reader to engage with a "conversational concierge" chatbot who demonstrates what booking a hotel room, choosing an inflight meal, interacting with customer support to recover lost baggage and other elements of a real-life travel experience could look like via chat. Companies cited in the report include: WestJet, Malaysia Airlines, Kayak, SnapTravel, Hotel Tylosand, Club Med, Booking.com, My SWFT, ServiceFriend, Delta, Lufthansa Group, KLM, Four Seasons, Jumeirah, The Annex, BookBoost, Alliants and GuestDriven.

"Travel is an industry that's taking a leading role in the adoption of modern messaging to elevate experiences throughout a customer's journey." said Warren Levitan, VP Conversational Business, Zendesk.

Broken down into four key stages of a customer journey; Pre-Stay, Pre-Flight, In-Stay and Post-Trip, the report looks at the emergence and applications of innovative conversational technologies such as chatbots with combined automation and human interaction, rich, transactional messaging and sophisticated concierge experiences that allow guests to request the services they want, when they want them, from the comfort of their own smart devices.

To read the full State of Messaging: Travel report, please click here.

About Smooch by Zendesk

Smooch by Zendesk is an omnichannel conversation platform that connects any business software to all the world's messaging channels, helping brands build more meaningful relationships with their customers. The platform powers customer messaging for global CX leaders including Oracle, Four Seasons, Uber, and Betterment. Smooch was acquired by Zendesk in May, 2019.

Josh Stanbury
+44 (0)1643 818007
Smooch by Zendesk