Technologies such as artificial intelligence are vital to maintain a constant growth and to generate more revenues. Hoteliers are already striving for new methods to reach out to customers, know them better, engage them to earn their loyalty. If you are a hotelier, the sooner you embrace smart technologies, the better it would be for your success.
Artificial Intelligence has already made a mark across varied businesses and the hospitality industry is fast catching up with this trend. While the hotel industry is an already crowded market, innovation is the key element for hotel owners to stay ahead of competition.
Technologies such as artificial intelligence are vital to maintain a constant growth and to generate more revenues. Hoteliers are already striving for new methods to reach out to customers, know them better, engage them to earn their loyalty. If you are a hotelier, the sooner you embrace smart technologies, the better it would be for your success.
Wouldn’t it be great if you can exceed a guest’s expectations every single time? With the new-age traveler being spoiled for choice, artificial intelligence makes it easy for you to offer personalized services and brand your property as an “intelligent hotel.” AI is associated with automation and in today’s times, the technology can be used to perform a broad range of tasks. As guests get more demanding, paying attention to details will help you score more points. With customer service being important for the hotel industry, let’s take a quick at the possibilities with Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial Intelligence for Smart Hotels
Chatbots and Conversations 24X7
What your customer says about you is often the defining line for the success of your hotel property. Excellence in customer service is always a priority. One of the most common problems is the inability to reply instantly to customer queries. Chatbots step into the picture to offer instant responses 24 hours a day. Not only do chatbots save time, they also eliminate the need to maintain dedicated staff round the clock.
Customers also love flexibility. The inclusion of a hotel’s mobile application empowers customers to adjust room temperature settings, order food and more via their smartphones. Guests using mobile apps to interact with AI-driven chatbots can schedule tasks, books taxis and do much more without the need for coordination with the front desk.
Customer Service with AI-based concierge
The AI concierge is already operational and is creating a stir among travelers. You can use Artificial Intelligence to deliver excellent in-person customer service. The Hilton Hotels along with IBM have put the spotlight on ‘Connie’ with their pilot project on the robot concierge. Connie helps to deliver an enhanced guest experience as guests can walk up to the robot, ask questions, find a restaurant or a park, and get their queries resolved instantly. With Connie doing the basic tasks, the hotel staff are left with ample time to focus on taking guest experience to a higher level. The hotel also has access to the entire log of questions asked by guests, enabling them to understand what customers require in order to improve service. These voice-activated assistants are already creating an out-of-the-world experience for guests!
Collecting and Using Data
What do you require to create an exceptional and individual experience for your guests? Guest data! The future of the hospitality industry lies on how well you can know your guests. This can begin right from the time your guest visits the hotel’s website, checks-in, or orders a certain food item. There are many ways you can organize this data to turn it into predictive and actionable insights for a superior guest experience at your hotel. Artificial Intelligence can be used to sift through these enormous chunks of data and understand customer behaviour. You can easily observe data captured at the time of bookings, survey forms, transactions and more. AI can help process and analyze this data quickly to get smart insights that determine a guest’s persona.
The potential of AI is unlimited. Right from facial recognition to enabling room check-ins to cleaning and maintenance, Artificial Intelligence is the smart technology that will help hotels improve their overall capabilities to serve their guests better. What holds importance for you is to know the gaps that exist in daily operations, management, customer service and more. This can give you an advantage to take a step in the right direction and be miles ahead of the competition.
Michael Schubach will give an insight into the future of AI in Hospitality at ITB Berlin 2018.
Michael Schubach has more than thirty years of hospitality industry experience and is currently the Strategic Deployments and Program Management Director at Infor. Previous to this, Schubach was an industry writer and consultant working with many different organizations to develop strategies and content across the industry – from vendors to small and large hotel properties in North America, Asia, Africa and Europe. He consulted on hospitality systems evaluation, specializing in PMS, S&C, POS, Inventory Procurement, Central Reservations Systems and related service systems. Schubach has also held the positions of Vice President of Product Management at Agilysys, Chief Information Officer at Trump Hotel Collection, Vice President of Resort Technology at Pinehurst Resort, and Vice President of Technology at Computerized Lodging Systems. Throughout his career he has supervised system installations at more than 2,500 hotel locations worldwide.
Schubach earned his undergraduate degree from the University of California at Santa Barbara focusing on History and Medieval Culture Studies. He later earned his MBA in Hospitality Management from Methodist University in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In December 2010, Schubach received the Certified Hospitality Technology Professional (CHTP) and Certified Hospitality Accountant Executive (CHAE) designations from Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP). He is a regular contributor to hospitality publications, a frequent speaker, lecturer, teacher and consultant. In 2015, Schubach was 38th inductee to the HFTP International Hall of Fame during HITEC in Austin, Texas.
