AI has been growing exponentially in the past decade. With the improved reliability of this technology, more and more industries are embracing AI, and the hospitality industry is no exception. In this post, I’ll explain how AI can be used in the hospitality sector and what benefits it brings, backed with real-life examples.
Artificial Intelligence Idea
Artificial intelligence stands for the approach that teaches machines to replicate intelligence behavior and learn from experience. This technique emerged in the 50s, but only recently, AI has evolved enough to be employed for critical business tasks. Essentially, artificial intelligence focuses on designing smart devices able to execute the tasks that traditionally require leveraging cognitive skills. It’s related to automation and big data analysis.
Computer technology enhancements coupled with a collection of consumer data imply that AI can be applied to a bunch of functions, ranging from providing customer-tailored services to forecasting sales and addressing enterprise-level problems.
Why Use Artificial Intelligence in Hospitality Industry?
The majority of hotels start to integrate smart solutions that stem from the strong sides of AI-powered software for businesses. Reduced operating costs, improved customer experience, and increased brand loyalty are the core benefits of “AI-hotels” interaction. So how can the travel industry make use of AI technology? Here are a couple of significant advantages.
- Automate Workflow
People go crazy when it takes a slew of time, for example, to book a room. Incorporating AI-enabled chatbots can significantly accelerate clients’ requests processing process by providing day and night customer support. Moreover, business owners can use AI tools to understand the scope of resources required and automate income accounting. For instance, with the help of artificial intelligence, entrepreneurs will be able to observe trends, forecast business performance under certain conditions, predict outcomes, and much more.
- Offer Personalized Client Experience
Nowadays, it’s not sufficient to just email potential customers to get a loyal audience. AI-powered solutions will give companies valuable insight into consumers’ behavior and preferences to tailor their offers to fit clients’ needs. For example, hotels can adapt their deals to the purpose of the trip, favorite locations, preferred rooms, etc. This will strengthen hotels’ chances to hook more customers. In addition, using natural language processing backed with sentimental analysis technologies enables handling a broad range of consumers’ reviews about the service provided. Thus, hotels will be able to understand whether their information campaign resonates with clients’ expectations and deduce the strong and weak sides of their business.
- Reduce Costs
Unfortunately, no business is immune to natural disasters or technical issues. However, Artificial intelligence solutions might turn the tide in business favor. The AI ecosystem contains predictive analytics and ML algorithms that enable forecasting travel disturbances based on info about environmental conditions and flight delays. Besides, many enterprises employ artificial intelligence and ML in tandem with a tracking tool system to plot routine services. As an illustration, predictive analytics can be used for scheduling vehicle repairs, purchasing spare parts and components, and predicting fuel usage charges for journeys. Artificial intelligence also scrutinizes numerous data sources to identify hotel occupancy patterns. Thus, hotels can set up a pricing strategy depending on the market situation. Moreover, using advanced algorithms, entrepreneurs will be able to forecast extra services for their customers.
- Identify Fraudulent Actions
Fraudulent activities cost millions of dollars to travel companies every year. Using self-learning technologies, hotel businesses can assess money transactions to identify illegal actions. For instance, SimplyBook.me, a cloud-based scheduling app, applies AI and machine learning algorithms to discover evidence of illicit activities once the user signs in. As a result, it leads to decreased chargebacks and enhanced price per dealing.
Opportunities of AI in the Hospitality Industry: 5 Jaw-Dropping Use Cases
Now, let’s look at the practical application of AI-enabled solutions in the hotel industry.
- Robots
Robots and robotic devices are the most widespread appliance of AI solutions. Smart robots are designed to provide in-person tourists service to address client-facing situations. For instance, Connie is an AI robot being utilized by Hilton to provide tourists with relevant information. In addition, the robot can interpret the natural language and adjust to human speech. Eventually, the more people interact with a robot, the better it will perform.
- Chatbots and Digital Assistants
Organizations all over the world implement digital assistants into messaging platforms to facilitate “business-client” interaction. By analyzing input data (user-specific information), virtual assistants go to bat for decisions fitting consumers’ preferences. AI-enabled solutions allow tourists to check the apartment availability, receive recommendations on places worth visiting, quick response to their requests via chatbots, and round the clock support. For example, Radisson Blu Edward is an AI-powered chatbot that can accompany clients at any time of the day. The bot can address most of the questions in a very human-like manner, and if it’s not able to answer, the chatbot will connect you to a human operator.
- Data Analysis
The scope of artificial intelligence is not limited to pure consumer service. AI is also widely utilized in analytics, allowing hotels to derive insight and patterns in clients’ data, predict demand, and operating/marketing costs, thus, growing business profitability. The Dorchester Collection hotel is one of the significant examples of immersing AI in data analysis. The enterprise has deployed an AI-powered platform that assists in making data-driven decisions about businesses’ performance.
- UX Personalization
Commonly, customizable interfaces are the business card of streaming websites, such as Netflix or Spotify. Nevertheless, the travel industry can also capitalize on custom-made UX/UX design enforcing it to your website. But what does that have to do with AI? Neural networks process a mass of information to single out different user segments based on various factors, such as age, location, preferences, etc. Then, relying on analysis results, the companies can adjust web or mobile app interfaces to multiple target groups. For instance, United Airlines has customized its user interface design to meet every customer’s exclusive requirements.
- Hotel In-stay Services
Post-pandemic reality has affected the way people consume hotel services. According to research, 77% of users seek digital, touchless services to mitigate physical interactions. Therefore, hotels are actively integrating contactless solutions like AI-based robots and digital assistants to keep up with the current trend. Robot porters, facial recognition systems, and voice-activated personal agents facilitate the hotel-related service (e.g., flights booking, registration, check-out, etc.)
For instance, Henn na Hotel is a digitized hotel in Tokyo served by robots. Visitors need to scan their passport page with their picture on the device and sign the documents to check in at the reception. After taking the clients’ data, the robot guides them to the paying machine. There is also no persona for cooking or doing the laundry. All these tasks are done by machine.
Wrapping Up
As you can see, artificial intelligence can transform the hotel industry in multiple ways. Even small hotels are starting to integrate AI technology since it’s becoming cheaper and easier to use. Intelligent solutions not only allow businesses to improve customers loyalty but contribute to increased profit. Thus, it’s a win-to-win solution for all parties involved. However, the final success will depend on the vendor’s expertise. Intelligent solutions are complex and should be built and integrated correctly. So the best way is to turn to a professional travel app development company with hands-on experience in AI-based software