Melco Jazzes up Customer Service With Melvis
- By CDOTrends editors
- May 09, 2020
Meet Melvis, Melco’s virtual butler service.
For the integrated resort giant in Macau, the new service aims to augment its human service teams and offer a personalized experience for each customer that extends to social and other web channels.
While butler services, backed by a variety of online services, are not uncommon in the competitive premium hospitality service, Melvis sings a different tune.
A core part of Melco’s DNA — the company vision for transforming its services — it is a chatbot that allows guests to request information on hotel and casino services, membership account details and restaurant reservations across mobile devices, popular social media and the hotel’s own app. It helps the integrated resort giant to assure some level of customer engagement and respond to customer queries wherever they are physically or virtually.
Singapore-based Botbot.AI created the new interactive butler service and that runs on Microsoft Azure cloud computing infrastructure and AI analytics.
“This natural way of engaging means guests can feel they are never far away from help or that they have never left us,” says Chang Lim, vice president of digital transformation at Melco. “Melvis allows us to maintain a focus on ease of use for the guest experience while also introducing advanced, new, creative products.”
Where Melvis tries to differ from other chatbots is the human touch. Lim notes that the aim was never to replace the human element of such services entirely.
“We do make some savings from less staff having to answer phone calls, but the chatbot frees up time for staff and is great additional support for the existing human engagement with guests,” he adds.
Humans trained the AI technology, while harnessing the latest technologies from Microsoft and Botbot.AI to be more interactive. A user experience team of designers and architects keeps Melvis’s interaction in line with Melco’s guest experience standards.
Cloud offered Melvis a level of flexibility that Melco appreciated. Originally, the virtual butler services was run out of Singapore Azure locations. With user demand on the rise in Hong Kong and Macau, Microsoft migrated the chatbot to the Hong Kong Azure location to bring it closer to the guests.
The young Melvis is building its own character through AI training. “We’re still formulating Melvis’ character—will it be a highly formal ‘butler’ or have a funny personality? We want Melvis to ultimately engage with customers on a more personable level and provide responses of increased quality and charm,” says Lim.
Photo credit: iStockphoto/GeoffGoldswain