A dehumanised experience
On a recent visit to the nearest branch of my bank to deposit some money into my savings account, a notice to customers, beside the PTM (personal teller machine), caught my attention. It stated that the bank will levy a service fee of Rs.500/- for ‘over-the-counter’ transactions. In other words, requiring the help of a live human being employed by the bank, even when giving the bank your money, will come at a cost to you… and that got me thinking.
These PTMs are the financial institutes’ equivalent of the kiosks at airports that let travelers check in and print boarding passes, the kiosks at fast-food restaurants that let guests order their meals without speaking with anyone behind the counter, and the self-checkout stations at grocery stores.
Now I get it that today’s consumers, especially the younger generation is tech-savvy and is always in a hurry. Hence, the process of dealing with a kiosk which is faster and convenient provides them with the modern, consumer-centric experience they expect. Fair enough. However, my wife and I, like plenty of others who belong to the ‘baby boomers’ age group, prefer to do our banking at the counter. We prefer talking with a teller and transacting our business with a human being.
93% of older consumers prefer talking to a human and 89% believe that brands should always offer a human option, according to a survey by cloud hosting provider Kinsta.
The hard to ignore fact is that the trend by banks to charge a fee to allow a customer who prefers to interact with a human (employee) rather than with a PTM, may well catch on in the hospitality sector: which could then redefine its operational practices and guest engagement strategies, as it embraces the power of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In a world where AI increasingly handles bookings, requests and queries for travelers, paying to speak to a human being could quietly become a “business class” customer service experience, according to industry experts.
Imagine being ‘on hold’ with an airline and hearing an offer: "Press 3 to be connected to a human for an additional $25 fee." Sounds far-fetched? Not really. Already, the talk-to-a-person fee exists in the airline industry. Many airlines charge a fee if you want to speak to a customer service agent instead of using the website to book a ticket. ? Believe me, none of them explicitly state that the fee is to “bypass AI,” yet, in practical terms, what’s happening is that these companies and brands are putting a price on human interaction.
Now, what if travel and hotel companies adopt such a move to turn human assistance into a pay-to-play commodity? What if one had to shell out additional, to receive an upgrade to “by-pass AI” when preferring to communicate with a living human being? Charging for access to a human advisor is unreasonable. Why a customer should pay a ransom to escape a broken AI system or is stuck n a never-ending loop where AI cannot make a judgment call is a dangerous monetizing game.
Hospitality Businesses should be intentional about where AI is employed – when is the human interaction important? Having an AI strategy that drives one’s business processes and includes human interaction where it will provide benefit is critical. That’s for sure…but it certainly must not come as an additional cost to the customer.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Mystery Guest Auditor, Ex-Hotelier
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