More moves in the world of chat services, with news that Cheapflights will allow users to search for both flights and hotels within Facebook Messenger.
The Momondo Group-owned metasearch engine could be one of the first travel brands to have combined search for air tickets and accommodation in a single bot-run platform within the omnipresent social network's messaging service.
Cheapflights Chat, launching in beta this week, will also provide other travel-related information such as the weather in a destination and the latest currency exchange.
This is how the UncleGrey-developed system will work: A user can type in a question along the lines of: "Get me a cheap flight to Paris leaving next week returning 5th of August."
The bot then calls on various APIs (such as the Momondo Group tech for flights and HotelsCombined for hotels) powering the back-end to return relevant results, including availability, as well as weather information and the location of the accommodation and the whereabouts of the user to show the nearest airport.
There is an "Inspire Me" element for those unsure where to go, and Cheapflights says the bot will give answers in a style to match that of the user.
The company says:
"Whether users are a fan of 'dropping the F-bomb' (or worse) or a fan of a 'winter-is-coming-sword-fighting-like' series, the bot has an answer for them."
Here is a clip of the Chat bot in action:
Managing director Andrew Shelton says: “
"Sixty three percent of our traffic now comes from mobile, and 54 percent of our revenue. It’s a big growth priority for us, so we should absolutely be jumping on any new opportunities that present themselves to engage with our users through that channel....
"Unlike others, our bot is specifically designed with both the Messenger platform, and users of it – and their needs – in mind....
"They can talk to us in the same way they'd talk to friends in Messenger, and will receive 'human' replies."
Skyscanner launched its Facebook Messenger flight search bot in May this year.