Before you build an agent, you draw the process

When we drew it out together, quite a lot came up. Bookings come in via a booking platform, via email, via text message and even via comments under posts on social media. Each channel requires its own access, its own settings and its own login details. An agent cannot reply to a message it does not see.

Then the agent needs to know how the B&B works. How many rooms, what prices, when is breakfast, are dogs welcome? If it does not know that, it fills it in itself. And then it cheerfully promises a guest that the dog can come along, when that is not the case.

After that there are the exceptions. A double booking. A last minute cancellation. A guest who asks a question to which there is no standard answer. What should the agent do then?