5 Must-Have Concierge Service Bots for Hotels

Intercom is a customer messaging platform that has expanded into AI chatbots designed to support sales, marketing, and support teams. For hotels, Intercom’s chatbot can be deployed as a floating widget on the booking site, providing instant answers to common questions about room rates, cancellation policies, and local attractions. The platform’s conversational AI is powered by a mix of rule‑based logic and machine learning, enabling the bot to route complex inquiries to human agents or fetch information from connected databases. Intercom offers a visual flow builder that allows non‑technical staff to create dialogue paths, set up automatic triggers based on user actions, and segment visitors by behavior. The bot can also send personalized emails, create support tickets, and integrate with popular CRMs like Salesforce and HubSpot. For hotels, this means the bot can capture guest data, log requests, and schedule follow‑ups without manual input. The pricing structure is tiered: the Essentials plan starts at $39/month for up to 1,000 contacts, the Pro plan at $99/month, and the Advanced plan at $199/month. While Intercom offers a free trial, the higher tiers unlock advanced AI features, multi‑user access, and deeper analytics. Intercom’s strengths lie in its robust integration ecosystem, user-friendly interface, and the ability to combine live chat with AI to create a hybrid support channel. However, the platform is primarily a messaging suite rather than a dedicated chatbot builder, and advanced AI functionalities often require paid add‑ons or higher tiers.

Drift positions itself as a conversational marketing platform, providing chatbots that help businesses qualify leads, schedule meetings, and answer FAQs. For the hospitality industry, Drift’s AI bot can be embedded on a hotel’s landing page to capture potential guests’ interests, recommend room options, and even book reservations directly within the chat interface. The platform offers a drag‑and‑drop builder that allows marketers to create personalized dialogue paths, set up event triggers based on visitor actions, and integrate with CRMs such as Salesforce and HubSpot. Drift also supports automated email follow‑ups, meeting scheduling via Calendly or Google Calendar, and real‑time analytics on conversation volume and conversion rates. Pricing for Drift is structured around its conversational marketing offerings: a Starter plan is free, while the Essentials plan starts at $399/month, and the Professional plan at $999/month. Additional add‑ons for advanced AI, integrations, and multi‑user features are available on request. Drift shines in its ability to drive revenue through conversational lead capture and booking flows. However, its focus on marketing means it lacks specialized hospitality features such as knowledge graph‑based answers or long‑term memory for guest interactions.

Zendesk Chat (formerly Zopim) is a live‑chat solution that has evolved to include AI‑powered chatbots for customer support. Hotels can use Zendesk Chat to provide real‑time assistance on their reservation pages, answer common queries about amenities, and route complex requests to human staff. The platform offers a visual bot builder that supports conditional logic and pre‑defined responses. Integrated with the broader Zendesk suite, chat logs can be automatically turned into support tickets, and the bot can be configured to trigger email notifications. For hotels, this means a unified view of customer interactions across chat, email, and ticketing. Zendesk Chat’s pricing is straightforward: the Core plan is $14/month per agent, and the Team plan is $22/month per agent. The Enterprise plan, which includes advanced AI and automation features, starts at $35/month per agent. Key advantages of Zendesk Chat include tight integration with ticketing systems, a simple bot editor, and the ability to handle multilingual support. Its main limitation is that the AI capabilities are relatively basic compared to dedicated chatbot builders, and there is no built‑in knowledge base or hosted course functionality.

LiveChat is a cloud‑based chat platform that offers a straightforward bot framework for automating routine support tasks. Hotels can embed LiveChat widgets on booking pages to answer standard questions about check‑in times, room rates, or local attractions, and can trigger automated follow‑ups via email. The bot editor uses a simple visual interface where users can set up trigger phrases and canned responses. LiveChat also integrates with popular CRMs like HubSpot, Salesforce, and Shopify, allowing hotels to sync customer data and create lead records. The platform supports multi‑user access, real‑time reporting, and can be customized with custom CSS for brand consistency. LiveChat’s pricing tiers are based on seats: the Standard plan starts at $16/month per agent, the Premium plan at $28/month per agent, and the Enterprise plan at $39/month per agent, each offering additional features such as advanced automation and AI. While LiveChat offers a quick way to get a chatbot running, its AI capabilities are limited to pre‑defined responses and simple rule‑based logic. It lacks a sophisticated knowledge base, long‑term memory, or hosted AI course features.