A small tour operator looks back at a year of enquiries. Many were answered quickly and booked. But a noticeable number were answered the next afternoon, and most of those never booked. The operator had assumed those travellers were just browsing. In fact, many had booked with someone else overnight.
Unanswered and late-answered enquiries hide a lot of revenue.
Why travel enquiries are so time-sensitive
Travellers plan in their spare time and often contact several businesses at once. The first helpful reply, ideally with options, sets the benchmark. A reply the next afternoon often arrives after the decision has been made. The timing problem is described in holiday enquiries that book elsewhere by morning.
A worked example
These figures are illustrative. Use your own.
Suppose a travel business receives 200 enquiries a month. Half arrive in the evening or at weekends. Suppose a fifth of those out-of-hours enquiries are lost because the reply comes too late. That is 20 lost enquiries a month.
If one in five enquiries normally becomes a booking, those 20 lost enquiries represent four lost bookings a month, or 48 a year.
If an average booking is worth a substantial amount, and some travellers would have booked again in future years, the lost revenue is significant. Run your own figures through the chatbot ROI calculator.
High-value trips cost more to lose
Some enquiries are worth much more than others: group trips, honeymoons and tailor-made itineraries. Losing one of those can cost as much as several standard bookings. Special trips are covered in honeymoon and special trip enquiries that need care, and group bookings in the cost of an unanswered group booking enquiry.
The general pattern
Missed enquiries cost every kind of business, as described in what missed enquiries cost your business. For travel, the combination of high booking values and out-of-hours planning makes the effect especially large.
Recovering the revenue
SpideyChat for travel and tourism businesses answers questions from your own pages at any hour, in the traveller's language, and captures trip details: destination, dates, travellers, budget and preferences. The team replies first thing with options.
Comparing the cost
Set the value of the bookings you are losing against the cost of capturing every enquiry. Plans are on the pricing page, and you can try SpideyChat on your own site first.
A simple measurement
For a month, note every enquiry, when it arrived and when it was answered, and whether it booked. Compare conversion for enquiries answered within a few hours with those answered the next afternoon. The gap usually shows how much revenue slow replies cost.
Evenings, weekends and bank holidays
The pattern is sharper on bank holiday weekends and in January, when many people plan their year's travel. Enquiry volumes can double while the team is at its smallest. Capturing those enquiries properly, with dates, travellers and budget, lets the team work through them in order of value and urgency when they are back, rather than facing a pile of vague messages that each need several replies before a quote is possible.
Repeat travellers
A family that books once and has a great holiday often books again. Every lost first booking is also a lost relationship, which is why the true cost of an unanswered enquiry is higher than a single trip.
Knowing your own figure
Estimate your average booking value and how many out-of-hours enquiries you lose each month. Multiply them. That number is what faster replies are worth to you.