The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas | Rose, The Hotel Chatbot

Years before LLMs hit the mainstream, we created a hotel chatbot that personalized guest experiences and directly impacted on-premise spend.
Role
Executive Technology Director
Company
R/GA

Overview

The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas was losing direct bookings to online travel agents like Expedia and Travelocity and their guests were missing out on all the resort had to offer. We built an innovative platform that creates powerful guest relationships and enhances the resort experience to encourage direct spend and return bookings. Her name is Rose: a provocative, personality-based SMS chatbot, the hotel's "resident mischief-maker" and the first digital concierge in Las Vegas. As R/GA's Executive Technology Director, I co-led the ideation, pitch process, C-suite collaboration, product development, and launch of Rose.

Key Objective: Increase on-premise guest spend and direct bookings.

The Challenge

A high percentage of Las Vegas guests book through third-party platforms, resulting in an in-direct connection between the hotel and the guest. The Cosmopolitan was looking for an innovative new solution to help build a direct line between their wide array of services and their guests. The goal was to enhance satisfaction, spend, loyalty, and build a new data source.

The Approach

Utilizing new software, existing platforms, and a lot of on-site testing, in 12 weeks, R/GA designed, developed, and launched a SMS chatbot with a sassy personality that connected guests to a wide array of automated information, live customer service, and personalized recommendations.

Impact & Results

Rose users correlated to a 20% increase in on-premise spend. Additionally, the chatbot helped alleviate a number of challenges with the guest services teams. Finally, Rose became a post-checkout experience, driving loyalty and repeat bookings. Launched in late 2016, Rose remains a cornerstone of The Cosmopolitan's digital product portfolio.

Guest satisfaction
+33%
Direct bookings
+37%
On-premise spend
+20%

Key Takeaways

  • Speed to market: A product in customer hands has exponentially more value than a product in development.
  • Iterative improvements from "desire paths": Utilize customer usage patterns to inform where to direct development.
  • Meet the customer where they are: Launching via SMS removed barriers and drove adoption quickly.