Joymaker updates, Summer 2024: Latest on live chat, AI, and support availability

Hey everyone!

Back in May, I shared the news that we would be testing live chat support as well as AI support, and today I have updates on both of these projects. 

We also have our next company trip coming up in early September, so check the end of this announcement for some details about our support availability that week.

Live chat updates

We had the opportunity to provide instant support to hundreds of travel advisors while testing live chat, and we have been absolutely thrilled with the feedback shared by the community. As a result, live chat is here to stay!

Chat support operates on business days between 10am and 6pm ET. Because we're still a small team, a Joymaker will occasionally not be available immediately. In those cases we'll do our best to get back to you within an hour, just as we do with email support.

Note that occasionally your request will require some research, so we'll ask to move the conversation over to email. This lets us devote full attention to the investigation so that we can get you fixed up ASAP.

Of course, email support will always be available at hello@traveljoy.com! 

AI support

By now, many of you have probably had the opportunity to share a question or two with "TJ," our AI-powered Joymaker. During these first few months, TJ has successfully resolved around one in every three requests. Not bad for the new guy. 🙂

We're working on a number of efforts that will be dramatically improving TJ's knowledge over the next few months, so you can expect to see him get smarter and smarter every week. 

I'm really proud of the fact that TJ instantly transfers your question to us when he doesn't know the answer. We're all about keeping things convenient here.

For the folks who type "human" right away, I challenge you to share your question instead -- you'll find that it's actually faster that way! 

Upcoming availability

Our next company trip takes place the second week of September. Company trips often provide opportunities to collaborate on some of our more aspirational ideas. They also have an impact on support availability, so I wanted to share the details here.

From Monday, September 9th to Tuesday, September 17th, phone and chat support will not be available. We will continue to provide support via email as we have in the past, with response times within a few hours on most days. 

On Thursday and Friday, September 12th and 13th, support will generally be unavailable. We will be monitoring the site and responding to urgent requests during this time. 

We'll be back to business as usual on Wednesday, September 18th. 

That's it for now... If you have any questions or feedback to share with me or the team, send an email to hello@traveljoy.com and we'll be happy to help!