Hilton has announced plans to extend its mobile messaging platform to all of its 7,000+ hotels globally by the end of the year.
The group has had a partnership with real-time engagement firm Kipsu since 2013, enabling guests in selected properties to send messages via the Hilton Honors app, SMS, WhatsApp and other messaging channels.
This will now be expanded across Hilton’s portfolio, to “enable a two-way, immediate exchange between guests and hotel teams to answer questions, address concerns, arrange experiences and more”.
Hilton said that last year “3,618 Hilton properties using Kipsu facilitated over 10.5 million conversations with nearly 70 million messages, leading to 70 per cent of guests who used messaging indicating that it improved the overall satisfaction of their stay experience”.
The group also highlighted that in its 2024 Trend Report 80 per cent of global travellers said they “travellers expect to be able to easily integrate personal devices with on-property technology”.
Hilton has a well established Digital Key system through its Hilton Honors app, and its Connected Room experience was enabled for more than 17 million guests in 2023.
In 2020 the group launched AI customer service chatbot Xiao Xi in China, with guests able to ask travel-related questions including hotel information, local weather, and Hilton Honors promotion details.
Commenting on the news Chris Silcock, president, global brands and commercial services, Hilton, said:
“At Hilton, we have had a long-term commitment to digitally transform the travel experience and create a more seamless journey for guests, from booking to billing.
“Travellers’ preference to communicate with hotel team members via their mobile device is growing. By expanding this capability to all of our hotels around the world, we are meeting our guests where they are and creating an elevated and reliable experience for every guest during their stay.”
What do you think about messaging Hilton for room requests and queries? Have your say in the comments section below.