Nestled on a lake near Yosemite National Park, The Pines Resort is a magnet for travelers seeking adventure. But that same prime location came with an unexpected burden: constant calls from visitors seeking information about the park in addition to the resort.
“We’d get calls about the water levels, snow conditions, what to do in Yosemite,” said President & Co-owner Mark Choe. “A lot of them weren’t even from our guests, just people visiting the area. The asks were piling up.”
To lighten the load, The Pines adopted the Canary AI platform, including AI Voice, AI Webchat and AI Guest Messaging. The result? Smoother operations, faster answers and a better experience for everyone. We spoke with Assistant General Manager Nicholas Bendz and President & Co-owner Mark Choe to hear how it all came together.
With an average of 250 calls a day, the front desk at The Pines was overwhelmed. Weather updates and park questions clogged the lines for guests trying to book or get help…until Canary’s AI Voice stepped in. The system now handles many of the resort’s calls, allowing them to schedule staff more efficiently each day.
“We’re always happy to help everyone, but we don’t want to miss a call from a potential guest because we’re giving out directions,” Mark said. “Now we’re certain that every call gets an answer. We’re also able to schedule more efficiently so we don’t have full shifts just to cover one or two peak hours.”
Response times to guest text messages used to average 45 minutes. Since upgrading to AI Guest Messaging, the time has dropped to just two minutes. That speed drastically reduced resolution time and took the guest experience to a new level thanks to instant, intelligent automation.
“If it takes us 45 minutes to get to a repair request, that's 45 minutes that a guest has been uncomfortable,” said Nicholas. “With a two-minute response time, it becomes a blip on their radar instead of a major inconvenience.”
The Pines originally used a separate webchat provider, but after seeing Canary’s AI, they knew it was time to switch. Every interaction and knowledge base update feeds back into Canary’s omnichannel AI platform, making the system smarter with every use. That means whether a guest calls, texts or chats in, they receive answers powered by the same source of truth.
“When we decided to move forward with Canary, we realized that having everything pull from the same database was a must,” said Nicholas. “It’s very important to us that we're giving out the same information no matter what platform you reach out to us on.”
Since deploying Canary AI, The Pines has cut response times from 45 minutes to two, automated phone calls and eased the burden on its front desk. But beyond the numbers, the biggest shift is personal connection: staff are less overwhelmed, more available and more focused on delivering great hospitality.
“The pressure isn’t mounting,” said Mark. “They can be more present with every guest.” Nicholas added, “It took no time for our staff to say it was such a relief. It’s taken a lot of the workload off of them and given them time back in their day.”
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