Contiki’s chatbot is a new tool for agents to better understand their clients’ travel interests.

The operator has launched Tiki, a chatbot on Facebook Messenger, which helps agents and their clients navigate the brand’s eight Travel Styles, and identify the most suitable trips for the client.

“Our audience aren’t homogenous,” says Contiki VP of marketing, Alexis Sitaropoulos. “When people think of youth they’re quick to generalise, but it would be naïve to do so.”

Tiki takes users through a set of questions about their personality, travel preferences and tastes, doing so through a mix of pop-culture references and internet memes.

Through its responses – or “bot-banter” –  it identifies the users’ Travel Style, it suggests a number of trips that would suit their tastes best.

The chatbot ends there to enable human interaction for destination knowledge, customer service, and booking handling provided by agents.

“Tiki is a tool that can be used to bring some fun into the research phase of travel,” says Sitaropoulos. “It will also help agents to better understand their client’s interests and aspirations, and will give agents a ‘leg up’ by suggesting trips that suit their client’s motivations, tastes and preferences.”

It is now live, available through Facebook Messenger via this link: http://m.me/tikitravelbot