AI: What it can do

Metaverse was the buzz word in 2022 only to be replaced in 2023 by the king of buzz words – Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI). Almost immediately, AI dominated the conversation at forums, at business gathering and at the dinner table.

Technology continues to underpin more and more aspects of planning and booking travel. For instance, AI is already rewriting the way travel companies serve their customers. While there are so many possibilities that AI can do for the hotel industry it is still early days with a great deal of debate and discussion ongoing.

The majority of hotel organisations are still evaluating the technology. Several hoteliers whilst agreeing that there are many applications, such as ChatGPT (which gave the AI world a real shake up) in the industry, admit that they are yet to figure out how best to package it.

AI has become a huge territory - one that is evolving day-by-day: making it not only difficult to analyse, but also to think through where the AI revolution is going, and how and when one should get on board.

Meanwhile, a lot of people in the hotel industry are concerned about what AI should and shouldn’t be doing. One such narrative doing the rounds is that bots will take away jobs or change them for the worse. Others in favour of embracing the technology argue that AI will enhance the experience of both customers and employees by freeing people of doing the mundane administrative tasks, thus allowing staff to add value and do what they do best.

Over time, the role of AI in the hospitality industry will only continue to spread. With that in mind, let’s check out some things technology can do that humans can’t (or shouldn’t have to):-

• AI-powered Chatbots and Virtual Assistants provide instant responses including capturing bookings outside business hours. I.e. an around-the clock (24/7) service for handling guest inquiries and reservations to recommending local attractions and addressing guest concerns. Guests receive immediate help to uncomplicated requests. Not only are response times shortened but live staff too need not be available at all times.
• AI software can help optimize inventory levels by tracking sales and stock levels, alerting timely restocking, manage supply lines, draw up housekeeping schedules based on room occupancy and program maintenance needs before they arise.
• AI can collect and sift through large amounts of data and make it easier to analyse this data to deliver personalized guest experiences and customized packages including activity suggestions – at scale. It can personalize room amenities even down to the amount of pillows a guest might prefer and dining options to curated experiences and special offers that are in-site with what each guest is looking for. Centralized Guest Profiling with AI allows for creating and managing central guest profiles that store preferences and history, even enabling personalized service across different locations.
• Another advantage is the capability of AI to assist in marketing and strategy. It can provide a huge amount of information that relates to guest behaviours, market trends and what strategies the competition is adapting…all in real-time! In this way, it helps hotels not only stay abreast , maybe even ahead of the competition – when it comes to identifying new market opportunities, or zooming in on the correct target audience, fine-tuning pricing strategies and to prepare targeted promos.

Make data-driven decisions: Hotels collect a vast amount of information from multiple data gathering points including guest feedback, booking trends, and operational metrics. To manually extract this data and analyse all that data can be time-consuming. AI on the other hand, can do all that in real-time, enabling hotels to make smarter, more informed decisions via the power of big data. This is particularly important for yield management which is a game changer when it comes to revenue capture and to maximize the utilization of resources during peak periods and increase traffic during slower periods by adjusting prices accordingly.

Consider AI as a solution for speed instead of a replacement for human creativity and care.

Shafeek Wahab- Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Customer Service Trainer and Ex-Hotelier

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