This Week in Startups · Monday, August 3, 2026
Narita Airport approached Bespoke around 2017 to automate customer service due to the high stress and turnover of information counter staff who faced language barriers and demanding travelers. Bespoke's in-house developed chatbot technology was seen as a solution to handle customer inquiries, including issues like lost luggage or flight connections, in multiple languages.
“And then things got even more interesting after 2017 when Narita Airport signed us.”
“So the airport came to us and said, like, hey, look, if you can automate the communication between hotel guests and hotels, you should be able to do that with the airport.”
“So it's stressful to travel. People are cranky, they came here on a flight and maybe their luggage is lost or they don't know about their connecting flight. And so you send them to a web interface. They get on their phone and they can chat in whichever language.”