How can AI enhance the hospitality industry?

In this article, we’ll discuss how AI can enhance the hospitality industry by delivering a better customer experiences in a meaningful and memorable way.

In the 21st century, industries that are hesitant to integrate new technologies are likely to regress in their course of development. Businesses across the globe are integrating the latest technologies to stay ahead of the competitors. The last decade has seen a vast number of innovations and breakthroughs in the landscape of digital solutions. One of the biggest innovation is Artificial Intelligence.

Ways in which AI can enhance the hospitality industry

AI, which is often misconceived as a replacement for human power, is as a technological aid. In the hospitality industry, AI has been able to create greater trust by transforming its processes, services and facilities. It provides a personalized guest experience by identifying unrecognized revenue opportunities.

Here are some of the ways on how AI can enhance the hospitality industry:

Chatbot assistance in native language

In a hotel, the front desk staff usually responds to most of the queries from the customers and in case of a large number of queries, the staff will take a while to address the concerns. Another situation is when the customers have trouble communicating with the staff if either of them isn’t able to speak a language known to both.

The use of conversational AI bots provides better customer experience. The chatbots will interact with the customers in their native language using Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Natural Language Generation (NLG). Since people are already accustomed to receiving recommendations from digital platforms, the adoption of artificial intelligence is not expected to face hurdles like other new technologies. Chatbots offer immense convenience to the customers, it provides fast-paced service 24/7.

Guest profiling

Isolated solutions without proper information will obstruct both hotel operations and customer experience. It is important to have a proper data management system which further help meet the customer expectation of receiving tailor-made services during and before the stay. The more you get to know about the customer, you can deliver quickly customized offers and satisfying guest experience.

Data analysis is an important factor for keeping the customers engaged and interested. With AI and analytics, managers can bring about a poised data management structure that can not only segment the guest profiles but can also understand their preferences, habits and future choices, creating opportunities to earn more loyalty.

A proper data management system allows the hoteliers to understand customer behavior pattern from various perspectives. As machine learning gives a 360-degree view of each guest, it is possible to carve out their real persona. This insight which is generated can help personalize the push messages and connect with the guest in real time.

AI helps the hotels to build a proper and accurate guest profiling. This allows the hotel to provide personalized offers to their guests which will increase the guest loyalty. It reduces the workload of the reception as it can give the guest instant and helpful answers at any moment of their stay. The chatbots stay connected with the guests right from the pre-arrival stage to the departure period thereby providing a really good experience for the guest.  The guest will be able to know about all the amenities that the hotel provides and enquire about the cost for using each. If the guest is staying at the hotel for tourist purpose then the chatbot can suggest places to visit and information regarding every place.

Predictive analysis and performance optimization

One of the main challenges faced by the hospitality industry is dealing with a sudden increase in demand due to holidays and other predictable and unpredictable events. It is important to monitor these fluctuations in demand and react accordingly and allocate resources in the most optimal and efficient way. With a lot of experience and after a lot of trial and error the owners eventually learn to accurately forecast the ups and downs in demands and will plan their offers and marketing campaigns accordingly.  But to get to that level it takes a lot of time and resources will be wasted.

AI is better at analyzing and understanding the information that can be extracted from big data. Using this data it can predict future variation in demand. Not only that, but it will also provide solutions for allocating resources during such situations.

Creating a more personalized experience

Facial recognition is a rapidly growing technology. It allows information to be associated with a specific person’s face and is able to access that information when it recognizes their presence. With the permission of the customers, this can provide hotel patrons with a more personalized experience; especially for returning guests. With AI, this tool can also identify the emotions of the guests thus enabling hotels to monitor guests who are not enjoying their stay and they can take timely, appropriate measures to rectify this.

The most important and also the obvious information that can be leveraged through face recognition is a guest’s name. Rather than asking who they are at the entrance of a hotel, the staff and front desk attendants can greet the guests by their given name, which would make the guest feel more welcome. The AI also saves the guests personal preferences and interests.

Better security

Security is a really important factor in order to protect a hotel’s brand value. If the guests feel that either they or their belongings are unsafe, they will not return to the hotel. Using AI in surveillance, it is possible to create and implement a really good security system. Any crime caught on camera can lead to quick identification, especially if their facial data is already available in the database. AI-based surveillance can also aid in the prevention of crime. Any troublemaker’s face caught on camera will be saved in the database. AI can house the records of such undesirable guests who have a history of trouble and alert staff if they are detected on the premises.

Such surveillance cameras can also be used to monitor small children who appear to be alone. If a child is detected alone or in a state of distress, it can easily send an alert to the child’s family or notify the staff. If a child is reported to be missing,  facial recognition can attempt to locate the child if they are still on the premises.

Conclusion

The hospitality industry is a competitive space where any advantage over the competitors can make a huge difference. AI is one of those technologies that give a huge edge over the competitors. It not only increases the revenue but also enhance guest experiences in meaningful and memorable ways.