AI in Hospitality Industry: Advantages, Use Cases
Currently, AI is the most talked about field and one of the most fastest growing technology as well. Numerous industries across various sectors have benefitted from AI adoption.
But what does it spell for hospitality industry? Let’s have a look.
But before we get into the meat and potatoes of AI in hospitality industry, understand that as a 🔗certified AI professional seeking a AI career, hospitality industry offers various opportunities.
Keep reading to know more.
The news of introducing Connie — the new robot concierge of Hilton Hotels — had created waves in the hospitality industry.
Introduced in 2016 at one of the Hilton Hotels in McLean, Connie — a Watson-enabled robot concierge — draws on domain knowledge from both Watson as well as WayBlazer to help the guests with their dilemma of where to dine, what to visit, and how can they search anything within the hotel premises.
Connie is named after the founder of Hilton Worldwide Conrad Hilton and is still in her testing phase. But this is just a beginning.
As silently as it may seem, AI-enabled technology has been making its presence felt in numerous hotels across the globe.
For instance, the robot butler Dash at Crowne Plaza in Silicon Valley. Dash offers seamless and quick deliveries of various amenities like snacks, drinks, towels, and toothbrushes to the guests. Designed to walk at a human’s walking pace, Dash is 3-ft tall approximately and weighs less than 100 pounds. This is not all, the robot can easily navigate between floors and using a special Wi-Fi connection can even call the elevator, independently.
Speaking about the robot concierge introduced in Hilton Hotels, Jim Holthouser — executive VP for global brands at Hilton, had said in an interview that the company wanted to achieve three things from this effort:
1. To lessen or remove the pain points of the guests
2. To help the staff operate the hotel with more efficiency
3. To delight and surprise the guests
Intriguing. But this is just one part of AI that can help the hospitality industry.
There are numerous benefits of AI in hospitality industry and some of them include.
AI Advantages in Hospitality
According to the report by Resource and Data, the global smart hospitality market is expected to touch USD 44.38 $ billion by 2026.
Nothing surprising there.
Hospitality industry has been chewing on the topic of Automation since last few years and with the kind of innovations (like robotic concierge and robot butlers), the hospitality industry will only be able to improve guests’ experiences in a hotel.
1. Better in-room experience of guests
2. Increased operational efficiency of a hotel
These two improvements will lead to enhanced brand loyalty — something that every hotel business seeks to achieve.
However, this is not all. Artificial intelligence-enabled technologies can take hospitality industry to a next level. Here’s how –
· With AI-enabled technologies, hotels can upsell and cross sell without sounding desperate
· With AI there is a data-driven, automated segmentation and targeting of guests
· AI-enabled technologies increase the satisfaction of guests, takes care of their immediate grievances, and thus improves brand royalty
· With AI in hospitality, hotels have an advantage of creating guests profiles as per the guests’ history, their preferences, satisfaction, value, behavior, as well as intent
· AI brings incredible accuracy and precision, along with results with fewer errors in comparison to humans.
What does the automation offer?
· A luxurious experience to the guests
· Helpful in operational activities such as centralized management, energy savings, and asset maintenance
Security and safety of its guests are a prime concern of hotel industry. While safety can be taken care by Radio Frequency Identification cards that come with security codes, facial recognition is one of the ways to enhance security at the hotels. In addition, the hotels can also enhance the security levels at the hotel with the automated alarm system that sends instant signals to the monitoring computer in case of any security threat.
Options Galore for AI in Hospitality
There is no dearth of opportunities with AI in hospitality. However, for those who seek an AI career, must remember this — the technology is ever-evolving and there are continuous developments in the field. For you to stay abreast with all the latest developments, 🔗AI certification from a reputed institute is a must.
The hospitality industry is waking up to the benefits of AI, machine learning, and automation in running the business — efficiently, smoothly, all while retaining the existing customers, and attracting new ones. The skill lies in hiring the best AI professional who can steer the traditional concierge to robotic concierge and transform regular butler services to again AI-enabled butlers.
