Fear of Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a fanciful buzzword; it is already making its presence known in a variety of ways from personalising experiences, occupancy and rate optimisation, reputation management to making bookings to placing your room service order - even delivering it. Making its entrance now is the smart room fueled by AI, where guests can tell their room they are ‘going to sleep’, and the room will recognise the phrase and initiate actions such as closing the curtains and turning off the lights.
There are countless predictions and case studies about the disruption of the hospitality industry if humans are replaced by robots. Whilst some fear that AI (artificial Intelligence) will spell the end of certain jobs, (Stephen Hawkins said “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race”, while Elon Musk claims that AI is humanity’s’ “biggest existential threat”). Others welcome the development of AI to do low-level tasks like carrying bags, give directions, serve beverages and in restaurants take orders, deliver food and even prepare dishes. To some, even Admin is considered low value and can be automated; allowing for a better customer experience.
It is no secret that for long the hospitality industry has a notoriously high turnover rate and this is pushing hoteliers to increasingly look at the mantra “automate the mundane” – which basically means hoteliers asking where they can take a human being away from a repetitive everyday process and re-deploy them where they can make a positive impact on the guest experience.
One of the oft lamented issues raised pre COVID-19… of operating a hotel was about labour. The industry was struggling to find labour to operate hotels. What this did then was to push the drive towards technology, which in turn drives innovation, which will drive robotics. Consequently, technology could help combat low staffing and high labour costs including costs arising from recurring cycles of hiring and training. The coronavirus pandemic has most definitely swept us all in that direction
The hotel of the future requires the perfect balance of automation and in-person service. What then is the right balance between technology and humans – especially when it relates to guest experience? Before rushing in to embrace technology, one needs to understand when a customer needs one-to-one attention and when automation can provide more efficient and seamless service. Chatbots can be effective to execute low-level, repetitive tasks they cannot deliver customer support with empathy and emotional intelligence…at least for now. Small wonder then that some compare conversing with Chatbots to a game of tennis: talk – reply, talk-reply, talk- reply…
Japan’s Henn na Hotel in Nagasaki, which first opened in 2015 with a staff of 243 robots, eventually reduced its robotic workforce by 50% after complaints from both staff and customers. Apparently, a large percentage of the robots were more adept at creating work for their human counterparts than they were at reducing it. The Henn na Hotel in Japan, translated as Strange Hotel, found that robots annoyed the guests and would often break down. Guests complained their robot room assistants (called Churri), mistook snoring sounds as commands and would wake them up repeatedly during the night. Meanwhile, the robot at the front desk could not answer basic questions. Human staff ended up working overtime to repair robots that stopped working. The hotel has now returned to more traditional human-provided services, though it will maintain a number of robots in areas where they performed effectively and efficiently.
Here was a hotel that sought to use AI whenever and wherever it could without necessarily looking first at how it will impact guests and employees. A case study that offers lessons for others in hospitality, intent on pursuing robotic solutions for customer service
Clearly, a blended approach that involves some automation and some human interaction will tend to offer the right balance. All things considered, and in the words of Chris Silcock, Chief Commercial Officer for Hilton “Hospitality and the human touch (better rephrased now as “…the human influence”) is what delivers the magic”.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Ex- Hotelier.
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