Automating customer service across 170 countries with HBX Group

Picture of Kane Simms
Kane Simms

More ways to listen and watch

About this episode

HBX Group sits in the middle of one of the most complex customer service chains in travel. A single issue can span a traveller, a travel agent, a global booking platform and a hotel on the other side of the world.

In this episode, we explore how HBX Group is leveraging artificial intelligence to transform its global customer service operations with Xavier Godoy Moya, Customer Experience & Automation Director, and Adam Tinsley, Global Customer Service Director.

We break down how HBX uses AI-driven classification to triage hundreds of thousands of monthly cases across voice, chat, email and ticketing systems. The team explains how generative models replaced traditional intent-matching systems, enabling accurate routing across more than 70 case types while supporting deterministic safeguards required at operational scale.

Adam and Xavier share results across several key use cases, including an AI classification system that accurately categorises customer inquiries into 70 different intents, automated handling of common requests such as booking confirmations and cancellations, and an innovative workflow that can automatically communicate with hotels on behalf of agents. Their real-time translation solution has enabled 24/7 service across 13 languages, dramatically expanding their global support capabilities.

We also discuss their approach to agent training, which includes an AI simulation system that lets new staff practice handling customer conversations at varying levels of difficulty before taking real calls.

The episode closes with measured business outcomes, including faster case resolution, growing automation rates, operational insights unlocked through AI-native reporting and the next wave of experimentation around sentiment-aware routing and more adaptive voice experiences.

Show notes

Find out more about HBX Group
Follow Kane Simms on LinkedIn
Download our exclusive report on how AI agents keep CX stable when volume explodes
Take our updated AI Maturity Assessment
Subscribe to VUX World
Subscribe to The AI Ultimatum Substack

Share

Weekly newsletter

The latest in AI-powered customer experience. Make better strategic decisions with the help of our weekly newsletter.

Host

Kane Simms

A strategic AI advisor who, for the past decade, has helped business leaders and product owners transform customer experience using conversational and generative AI.

Share

✓   Link copied

Weekly newsletter

The latest in AI-powered customer experience. Make better strategic decisions with the help of our weekly newsletter.

Top articles and podcasts

Related content

What does a good AI agent testing approach look like?
When is an AI agent ready to go live? Discover how development testing, stress testing and clear pass/fail criteria help build confidence before deployment.
What does it take to make a voice AI agent reliable?
Rohan Vasishth, Co-founder and CEO of Bluejay, explains how to test voice AI agents and build trust for enterprise deployment.
AI agent testing: where are we now?
AI agent testing is evolving rapidly. Explore the growing market of evaluation, automated testing, observability and security tools, and why tools alone aren't enough.
Keeping control of your AI agents
Zammo's Stacey Kyler and Guy Tonye on the move from diagram flows to agentic systems, and why customers now want both the freedom of Gen AI and firm control.

Meet VUX at CCW Europe, Amsterdam, October 5-7

Register now: Why your contact centre playbook is obsolete