Kabannas is a group of three hotels in the UK, with a total of 135 rooms, located in London St Pancras, Newcastle, and Liverpool. Formerly operated by the Youth Hostel Association, Kabannas acquired the properties in 2023.
NB: This is a case study from HiJiffy, one of our Expert Partners
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The brand stands for providing well-located, quality, flexible accommodation where travellers can rest, recharge, and connect with others. Each hotel offers buzzing social spaces that nurture a community feel and food and beverage services that fuel travellers’ energy.
Key takeaways:
- 92% of questions answered automatically by conversational AI
- 71% open rate of WhatsApp campaigns
- this is just short of double the average performance of hospitality email campaigns for the EMEA region, as stated in the 2024 Hospitality Benchmark Report published by Revfine (36.4%).
- 35.7% conversion rate for upselling with Oaky via webchat and WhatsApp campaigns
- In May 2024, upselling deals were presented in the webchat and WhatsApp campaigns over 2.5K times, with 13.5% of guests following the link to learn more.
- This led to 125 sales via automated channels that month
- The synergy between Oaky’s upselling system and HiJiffy’s AI-powered automation leads to 90x higher conversion rates than the industry average.
- For context, the average performance of any hospitality email campaign in EMEA is a 2.9% click-through rate and 0.4% conversion rate
The Challenges
To differentiate on the market and mark the arrival of the new brand to the properties, Kabannas aimed to put the guest in charge of their digital journey and interactions with the hotels. They looked for a solution that would allow their guests to chat with them whenever they needed, even outside of the traditional 9 am to 5 pm Reservations Department.
“AI is here and changing quickly, resistance is futile, hospitality and other service industries need to get on board and embrace the change, your guests, your customers, your employees expect instant information at their fingertips.” – Louise Garner (LG), Commercial Director at Kabannas
In addition to the goals above, the aim was also to keep Reservations staffing to a minimum. It was important that Reception team members could quickly grasp a new AI tool and be able to aid a guest when necessary while prioritising taking care of the guest in front of them.
Key pain points
Kabannas identified repetitive questions guests would ask daily, such as the check-in time, breakfast cost, closest train station, and so on, as the main pain points to be addressed with an AI solution. All of this information was readily available on the Kabannas website or in reservation confirmation emails, but guests lead busy lives and want to interact and get transactional details instantly.
From a broader perspective, Kabannas was looking for a specialised tech solution that would help them to:
- Enhance guest experience
Making communication channels, including the website’s webchat, WhatsApp, and email, readily available to engage with (prospective) guests.
- Automate guest communications
Answering common questions to boost bookings and processing in-stay queries regarding amenities and services to have a positive impact on guest satisfaction.
- Optimise procedures
Further improving the guest experience and reducing the team’s workload, Kabannas looked to automate procedures, including group bookings, reservation modifications and cancellations, refunds, and more.
It also mattered for the brand to work with a solution specifically designed for hospitality and a company that understands the industry and is driven by innovation.
