A few times while trying to make reservations I had a popup message asking if I'd like to chat. The functionality seemed very similar to the old chat, but the agents weren't as helpful. They were able to make a reservation for me, but then I had a couple reservations that I couldn't apply SNAs to and one I couldn't cancel online. It was clear that the chat agent was just trying to do exactly what I could do online. He ultimately just gave me the phone number of the hotels and told me to call myself.

But I don't see a way to force a chat, and the popup message hasn't happened since last week.