How Artificial Intelligence is transforming the hotel industry
A computer would deserve to be called intelligent if it could deceive a human into believing that it was human. — Alan Turing
Artificial Intelligence is the ability of machines/computers to display intelligence like that of a human. Artificial Intelligence is used to be something that we only used to see in movies and books. It has become a reality in recent years.
Almost all industry verticals have started implementing Artificial Intelligence in their day-to-day processes to improve efficiency and accuracy. In fact, we have got our first AI-driven robot citizen , Sophia recently.
AI in the world of hospitality and travel got a plethora of uses in making the life of a guest as well as the hotelier much easier and simpler.
Artificial intelligence will play a major role in guest engagement in near future — it is a must for hotels who want to attract the younger generation of travellers.
Imagine this, once the guest has been identified, the room allotted to the guest adapts itself automatically to all preferences set by the guest during reservation — such as lighting, room temperature, preferred TV channels and more.
AI powered devices for hospitality
Hotel concierge is one area where AI is increasingly adopted by major hotel brands like Hilton Worldwide, Radisson blu owned Edwardian hotels and Cosmopolitan, Las Vegas.
Let’s have a look at Hilton Worldwide’s AI Concierge robot — Connie.
Connie is a two-feet robot which is at the check-in desk and is powered by IBM’s Watson AI.
Guests can ask questions to Connie and it has the ability to fine-tune it’s responses based on the previous interaction with the guests and is constantly evolving. Connie can suggest the guests of nearby tourist attractions and other interesting information about the famous tourist spots.
Another AI driven device that is taking the industry by storm is Amazon’s intelligent personal digital assistant called Amazon Echo (uses Alexa AI). Amazon’s Echo series of devices can do a plenty of activity for the guest — suggesting interesting activities to do around the hotel, answer guest queries on hotel facilities, control lighting and temperature of the room, order room service and even trigger a checkout too.
Here is an example of Amazon Echo deployment in Wynn hotels, Las vegas.
AI powered chatbots
Chatbots are increasingly becoming popular across all industries that has a digital presence. The chat plugin/tool in a hotel website can be augmented with a bunch of algorithms that makes the chat tool auto respond to guest queries with appropriate answers. The chat tool can also learn on its own — it can be programmed.
This certainly reduces the time spent by the hotel to reply to guest queries, and also the guest gets a reply instantly — because its automated.
Chatbots can be integrated into the hotel’s property management system and thus the hotel can keep track of all the past data of the guests and cater according to their preferences and interests.
Machine learning algorithms are used to power intelligence to chatbots — with the help of this, the chatbot will evolve with each and every request and become more efficient and accurate.
Robot Butlers and Robot Receptionists
It’s not too far for the AI based Robot Butlers and Robot receptionists to be seen across hotels around the world considering the pace AI is being adopted globally. According to Travelzoo report, 53% of travelers would accept Robot receptionist when accompanied by a human.
Which one of the AI usecases you are going to implement in your hotel in the future? Let us know in the comments.
Know more about the other top 4 hotel technology trends for 2018:
