Company Overview
Grupo Xcaret, started in 1990, is a 100% Mexican corporate group and leader in sustainable tourist entertainment. Its history reveals its commitment by offering unforgettable experiences based on respect for nature, deep love for life, and a great admiration for Mexico.
More than 12.7 million tourists visit the Mexican Caribbean each year, out of those, 3.5 million end up at Xcaret's parks and hotels. Since its opening in December 1990, Xcaret's group has grown into 7 parks, tours to archaeological sites, and 3 hotels.
The Challenges
Coordinating Pickups with OTA Customers
One of the main challenges Xcaret faced, like many other tour and activity operators, was the lack of contact they had with the clients who were buying through OTA’s. This was especially true when coordinating hotel pick-ups with these customers. Customers who book through OTA's or third parties don't actually come into contact with the operator until the activity starts. Which is a huge problem for answering any doubts these clients might have regarding locations or pick-up times. If you don’t have direct contact with your clients you can't really give them the personalized customer service that tourists expect and deserve nowadays.
Promoting Other Xcaret's Activities to Current Clients
It's easy to argue that one of Xcaret's main competitive advantages is being able to offer sustainable theme parks for both, adults and children, hotels, and tours to the main attractions within Quintana Roo and Yucatan. However, this can only be an advantage for the Mexican group if customers are aware of all these offers. Xcaret was looking for ways to bring up that awareness, as acquiring a new customer directly is 5-25 times more expensive than keeping a current one. In other words, working on upselling and cross-selling is a far more profitable way to grow your tour or activity business.
Asking for Reviews
For a company the size of Xcaret, it is hard to get reviews for each one of your activities. Operating 7 parks and many day trip activities, it is almost impossible to ask each customer personally for a review.
Often times, if travelers aren't reminded to write a review they simply forget to do it. It is also difficult to motivate consumers to write reviews as motivations are, to a great extent, intrinsic. Not all travelers will take the time to post a review, but the majority of travelers do make time to read existing reviews.
In a survey done by TripAdvisor, it was concluded that 94.5% of travelers read other travelers' online reviews, every time they plan a pleasure trip or at least frequently.
The Solution
While looking for solutions to increase reviews, alongside closing the ongoing communication gap with customers delivered from OTA's and finding creative ways to cross-sell and upsell, Xcaret came across TourOpp GO!. The first automated messaging system and chatbot for the travel industry.
Michel Cervantes, Xcaret's Client Acquisition Director, was thrilled to tell us that, "Not only did the platform offer easy integration with Xcaret’s reservation system, Bókun, but it also ended up exceeding our expectations by increasing our reviews during the first month." Not to mention that Xcaret effortlessly surpassed their 2019 sales by streamlining communication with OTA customers via TourOpp GO!
Delivering Important Info at the Right Time
Once connected to Xcaret's reservation system, Bókun, TourOpp GO!'s platform was able to send automatic booking confirmations to customers with critical information, even to those customers who were booking through OTAs . Michel Cervantes stated, “Through TourOpp we have included infographics that provide details related to their pickup process, parking, and contact information.”
Xcaret's infographic of "What to Expect After Booking" receives almost 300 clicks every month, showing how relevant it is for travelers. As for the information not detailed on those automated messages going out, travelers are also relying on TourOpp's chatbot. To be precise, 11.15% of Xcaret's customers have successfully gotten answers to their questions without any human intervention.
Promoting Xcaret's New Ferry to Isla Mujeres
Through TourOpp GO!'s automated messaging, Xcaret started giving their customers accurate and personalized suggestions on other things they could do inside the Xcaret's parks. This can help customers find places to eat, souvenir stores and other revenue-generating venues. Moreover at the end of each confirmation message, Xcaret also added a little promotion recommendation for their new Ferry to Isla Mujeres, a recent addition to their product catalogue of activities in the Mexican Caribbean. This type of marketing effort, is far more efficient and cost-effective than other advertising channels, like Google or Facebook Ads.
Review Generator
Within the first 30 days of utilizing TourOpp GO!, Xcaret was able to increase their reviews by 131%, which is extremely important when it comes to positive listing positioning within OTA platforms.
The way they achieved that is by adding a message that goes out to the lead traveler 30 minutes after the activity is over asking them to rate their experience. If the customers rates negatively, the chatbot automatically sends the customer the contact information of Xcaret's customer service, for a more immediate reconciliation. Through this process, Xcaret was able to prevent 11 bad reviews form hurting their reputation in 2021. On the other hand, if the rating is positive, Xcaret sends direct links where the customer is incentivized to post a review on TripAdvisor or Google. The peak of these reviews came in in December 2021, when Xcaret's reviews on TripAdvisor were 464% higher than the month before.
The Results
Almost 300 people every month benefit from Xcaret's infographic of "what to expect after booking" and 11.15% of Xcaret's customers were asking a question to the chatbot.
After only been connected for 30 days to TourOpp GO! Xcaret increased their reviews by 131% and in December 2021, there was a dramatic 464% increase from the previous month.
In 2021, Xcaret's B2B division (the one TourOpp GO! works with) already exceeded its 2019 sales
While a leader and frontrunner in sustainable tourism since 1990, Grupo Xcaret, via TourOpp GO!, has discovered yet another way to continue to innovate and stay relevant within todays tourism industry.
Currently, Xcaret continues to display growth and positive results across the board, starting out 2022 with 100% of their customers accepting to chat with the TourOpp GO!'s chatbot, 73% of customers eager to recommend Xcaret to a friends or family, and a steady increase of reviews pouring in with praises of Xcaret.
This is just one success story of many that has seen significant improvement and positive impact, not only in relation to their reviews, but to their ability to cross-sell, upsell, and among many other benefits, completely customize their overall user experience.