What AI Does and Doesn't Do at Brighter Latitude
Customers have been reaching out with concerns about whether AI is actually building their trips, and why not just use an AI solution to ask for a schedule instead, given the existence of our chat and phone implementations.
To address those concerns, I wanted to write an entry to be fully transparent about how we use AI.
To be perfectly clear, our stance is that AI is a tool, plain and simple. As such, the core of it is learning how to use it. I personally see it as a knife, given its potential to be helpful and harmful at the same time. A knife could cut the thumb of someone who has no training on how to use it. In a chef's hand, on the other side, it can be used to make the most enticing dishes. The knife is not inherently good or bad; it is how it is used that determines its value.
This is the philosophy we followed: How can AI be used to improve the customer experience without disrupting the core value proposition we provide to our customers? In this case, that is the capacity to tailor the experience of going to Costa Rica without any friction.
When it comes to Brighter Latitude, we followed this guideline in two main ways.
1. Support channels available 24/7
The first is to enable 24/7 assistance channels for customers when they want to explore the possibility of a vacation. We did this via a chat assistant and a voice assistant that can provide support anytime and in any language. Both can answer questions and concerns, as well as gather basic information for the travel expert to start planning the trip and share the proposal.
No planning is done at this stage. The output is given to the planning specialist afterwards.
In case customers do not want to engage through these methods and prefer a person helping them out directly, we also offer two channels for that: the form on the main site or the email they can reach out to directly. These have a 24-hour lag, as a person actually needs to address them manually and set up a call with the customer, but it is up to the customer's choice.
2. Faster availability checks
The second usage is operational. We use AI to check hotel and activity availability, allowing us to reach out to our partners faster. This translates into a better response time for our customers.
Besides these two use cases, everything else is handled by a person.
Our promise
The most important promise we can make here is that the experiences are crafted by us, people, humans, with experience of what it is like to be in Costa Rica, and the way it shapes you and transforms you.
We have customer experience as the base of our value proposition, and we want to keep it that way, AI or no AI.
Hope this makes our stance clear on this matter.
Enjoy your trip. Make it worthwhile!!