The Digital Hot Pot: Haidilao Bets on AI for Global Loyalty

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – September 01, 2026 – For anyone who has waited for a table at Haidilao, the experience is legendary. Complimentary manicures, board games, and endless snacks transform a simple queue into a preamble of the hospitality to come. Inside, attentive servers and mesmerizing “noodle dance” performances reinforce a brand built on an almost fanatical dedication to the customer-first experience. But a critical question looms for the global dining powerhouse: can that human touch be scaled digitally for more than 200 million loyalty members scattered across the globe?

In a move that signals a seismic shift in the hospitality industry, Haidilao is betting that it can, by partnering with global AI-first communications platform Infobip. The collaboration aims to translate the brand’s renowned in-person service into a seamless, personalized digital experience. The initial results from this fusion of hospitality and technology are not just promising; they represent a new benchmark for customer engagement. By overhauling its communication strategy, the hot pot chain has seen its email click-through rates skyrocket by 2.72 times and open rates more than double in just six months—a staggering figure in any industry, let alone the competitive food and beverage sector.

Anatomy of a Digital Overhaul

The dramatic uplift in engagement metrics is the result of a deliberate pivot from reactive, broad-based messaging to an intelligent, data-driven model. Before the intervention, Haidilao, like many large enterprises, faced the challenge of communicating effectively with a vast and diverse customer base. The risk of generic, one-size-fits-all campaigns is not just that they are ignored, but that they actively dilute a brand known for personalization.

By centralizing its massive trove of customer data on Infobip’s platform, Haidilao unlocked the ability to perform sophisticated segmentation. Instead of mass mailings, the company began deploying behavior-triggered communications. This means a customer’s dining history, app usage, and past interactions now dictate the messages they receive. A patron who frequently orders a specific dish might get a targeted offer, while a lapse in visits could trigger a personalized invitation to return. Against an industry backdrop where average email click-through rates for F&B often hover below 2%, Haidilao's reported 2.72x improvement points to a highly successful transition toward conversations that are relevant and timely. This isn't just better marketing; it's a digital extension of the attentive service Haidilao provides in its restaurants.

The Global-Local Communications Matrix

Scaling this personalized approach for a global empire operating in Asia, Europe, and North America introduces immense complexity. Customer communication preferences are not monolithic; they are deeply regional. Recognizing this, Haidilao and Infobip architected a tiered omnichannel strategy that treats its members as a single global community with distinct local preferences.

While email and mobile push notifications serve as the universal baseline, the strategy’s true power lies in its localized execution. The partnership is scaling engagement on the specific platforms where its customers live their digital lives: WhatsApp for global markets, LINE for diners in Thailand, Taiwan, and Japan, and Zalo for its large customer base in Vietnam. This approach acknowledges that the most effective communication happens on the user’s home turf. The hidden cost of such a strategy often lies in navigating the labyrinthine patchwork of international data privacy regulations. The partnership's stated focus on using permissioned member data and adhering to local privacy requirements is therefore not a footnote, but a critical pillar for maintaining customer trust while executing this complex, cross-border engagement model.

The Agentic Leap: From Automation to Autonomy

While the current results are impressive, they are merely the foundation for a more ambitious future. Haidilao has become an early adopter of Infobip’s new AgentOS platform, signaling a move beyond simple automation and into the realm of agentic AI. This represents a significant leap forward, aiming to create autonomous digital agents capable of managing complex customer journeys from end to end.

Unlike a standard chatbot that follows a script, an AI agent is designed to understand a goal and orchestrate the necessary steps to achieve it. For a Haidilao customer, this could mean an AI agent proactively noting an upcoming birthday from their profile, cross-referencing their dining history to suggest their favorite location, sending a personalized celebratory offer via their preferred messaging app, and facilitating a table booking—all without direct human intervention. Seven Lin, Product Director at Haidilao, affirmed this vision, stating, "Centralizing our customer data has allowed us to move from reactive communication to intelligent, data-backed engagement... Infobip's AgentOS provides the AI communication orchestration we need to ensure this hospitality remains seamless as we expand globally."

Reshaping the Customer Experience Battlefield

This high-profile partnership serves as a crucial case study in the hyper-competitive Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) market, a sector projected to grow exponentially as enterprises operationalize AI for customer engagement. For Infobip, a recognized Leader in analyst reports from firms like Gartner, the collaboration with Haidilao is a powerful demonstration of its 'AI-first' strategy in action. It showcases the platform’s ability to move beyond providing communication APIs to delivering an intelligent orchestration layer that drives tangible business outcomes.

As Daniel Kou, Head of Customer Success APAC at Infobip, commented, "As an early adopter of Infobip AgentOS, Haidilao is taking a bold step to leverage autonomous, AI-driven capabilities to transform diner interactions globally, and together, we are setting a new standard for proactive, scalable hospitality." For Haidilao, this investment is a high-stakes wager that technology can not only preserve but enhance its most valuable asset: a legendary reputation for making every single guest feel uniquely valued.