How Hotels Can Use AI to Drive ROI: Harmonizing Automation, Augmentation, and Analysis By Are Morch

Additionally, AI is streamlining back-office operations such as invoice processing, inventory ordering, and maintenance scheduling. A study of hotels using AI for operational automation showed an average reduction in administrative costs of 20%, with some properties reporting savings of up to 40%. For instance, a midsize hotel in New York City reported a 15% increase in RevPAR within six months of implementing an AI-driven pricing system. This boost in revenue came not just from higher rates during peak times, but also from filling rooms that might have otherwise gone vacant during slower periods.

According to a survey from OliverWyman, 55% of leisure travelers would select a certain booking channel because it uses generative AI. While some travelers might have a travel agent build the perfect itinerary, generative AI has made crafting the perfect trip itinerary easier than ever before. Although 61% of consumers said they would be willing to use AI in travel planning, 81% want to verify the information AI gives them before making any decisions, according to a report from NRG. Going on a trip can take a lot of planning and preparation to decide what places to visit or attractions to see — and when to fit them into a limited schedule. That’s why many travelers rely on itineraries to help map out what each day of the trip will look like.

Booking.com is based in Amsterdam, and Europe’s big new tech law, the Digital Markets Act, classifies it as a gatekeeper just like Apple or Google. Glenn is not thrilled about that, as you might expect, but at the same time, it means competition with Google might be on a more even playing field. In the future, there are plans for drones to deliver room ChatGPT App service, too. Join over 20,000 AI-focused business leaders and receive our latest AI research and trends delivered weekly. According to Crunchbase, the company has received $9.2 million in Seed Round and Series A funding. While its primary headquarters is in San Francisco, CA, AngelList notes that a secondary headquarters is based in Toronto, Canada.

This eye-opening fictive scenario explores how a mid-sized hotel can leverage a $350,000 AI investment to generate an astounding $855,000 profit in just one year. Morch, a renowned expert in AI Hospitality Insight, breaks down key areas where AI is revolutionizing the hospitality sector, from tireless AI chatbots to mind-reading predictive algorithms. As hotels collect and analyze more guest data to power their AI systems, concerns about data privacy and security are coming to the forefront. Investing in robust cybersecurity measures and ensuring compliance with data protection regulations is crucial for hotels to maintain guest trust and avoid costly breaches.

Flip.to is an advocacy platform that converts guests into brand ambassadors, encouraging them to share their positive experiences on social media and with their networks. This organic marketing approach leverages word-of-mouth and social proof, potentially attracting a broader audience. Data is gold in the modern digital age, and the best booking plugins ensure that you get it in spades. It’s not just about having a tool that lets guests reserve a room, it’s about knowing how they came to reserve that room and the steps they went through during the booking process. For hotels with an international clientele, it’s crucial that staff can communicate in multiple languages.

Some of our customer service stuff is already going through, so we’re able to do simpler things with that. And I imagine, boy, the rate of advancement is going so rapidly, maybe it’ll be sooner than I think. For example, if you have a flight that is delayed, being able to have an AI agent go through all the permutations, what the right things are, and all the other parts of the trip, because a trip is a chain of many different things.

Middle East Travel Roundup

And at some point, gradually, gradually, gradually, it’ll get better and better, and we’ll have to need fewer and fewer, and it’ll be something that I think will be better for the customer. Because I don’t know anybody who ever enjoyed waiting on hold to speak to someone to fix the problem. There are probably a lot of 65-year-olds who actually can do their job fine and that their health is perfect and fine. It just seems strange to me, and that’s a rule that’s not good.

But Booking.com still needs its own service because of specific needs that other platforms can’t support, said David Vismans, Booking.com’s chief product officer, in an interview with VentureBeat. According to Mezi, an agent from the partnering travel management company can then look through the entirety of the conversation to learn more about the client. Mezi also claims that it uses the client’s responses to build a traveler profile that the agency can access.

It’s effectively a Ritz Carlton at sea and it is all-inclusive. Getting into the ultra luxury yachting space has been quite interesting for us, because 50% of the customers on our yacht are actually new to cruising. When it comes to C-Suite leadership in hospitality, Tina Edmundson is a name you need to know.

Voice-Activated Assistants for Seamless Guest Experiences

Guests can go there and get all of that, but also just be on the beach with their family. In a brick and mortar business, it’s hard to see how Marriott could get much bigger. It’s seen as the ‘bright spot’ growth engine in hospitality, which puts Edmundson, promoted last year to become Marriott’s President of Luxury, squarely in the hot seat. She now oversees eight brands, including St. Regis, Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Bulgari Hotels, Edition, Luxury Collection, JW Marriott, and W Hotels.

Already employed by online travel agencies like Kayak and Booking.com, the chatbot is the newest way for guests to communicate with their hotel, without having to pick up a phone or wait online to speak to a concierge. Though you can’t reach out and touch them like you can with their robotic counterparts, you can ask them questions on a whim (usually through text), day or night. Founded in 2015 in Tokyo, Bespoke Inc. is dedicated to enabling amazing local experiences to hotel guests through data and artificial intelligence. Current products include Bebot, the AI concierge, and LEVART travel community. Since its founding in 1968, Belluna Co., Ltd. has expanded from the core mail order sales business to a wide range of services. AI allows you to personalize every aspect of a guest’s stay.

But preparing a trip itinerary can be labor- and time-intensive. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. The partnership with Bulgari happened more than 20 years ago, before my time. But it’s been a wonderful venture; It’s their brand, their vision and design, but we manage the hotels. Bulgari is growing, which, to your point on ultra luxury, has become even more important.

When a user contacts SnapTravel through either messaging platform, its chatbot begins by asking the prospective traveler a few preference questions, such as “What’s your budget? ” The company claims it automatically searches online deal finders, such as Expedia, and sends the user website links to the best-matching travel options. The user can then click the links and book from the site which posted the original deal. But big companies, like Google, Kayak and Expedia, aren’t the only ones attempting to disrupt the travel industry with artificial intelligence.

By adjusting room rates automatically based on demand and other factors, hotels can maximize their revenue per available room (RevPAR) with unprecedented precision. AI-powered chatbots and virtual assistants provide 24/7 customer support, resolving queries quickly, and offering tailored recommendations based on user interactions. This not only speeds up the travel planning process but also significantly improves customer satisfaction and loyalty. AI technology can use its analysis to forecast and predict behaviors based on historical data and current trends. For travelers, AI can predict future prices for flights and hotels, which can help users find the best deals based on its predictions. Travel booking companies can use predictive AI to inform travelers about the best time to book a hotel or buy a flight to a certain location.

In 2018, Emirates Group Security and Etihad Aviation Group signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen aviation security, including the sharing of information and intelligence in operational areas both within and outside the UAE. Last year, Emirates had signed an agreement with the Department of Culture and Tourism — Abu Dhabi to boost tourist numbers to the capital from key source markets across the airline’s global network. The hotel sector’s current approach to artificial intelligence is very much driven by potential savings and the opportunity to replace team members. This means a focus on chatbots, with technology standing in for people and performing basic tasks, leaning on the artificial aspect of AI, rather than the intelligence. The State of Travel 2024 Report also illustrates that AI is not just a tool for automating tasks—it is fundamentally reshaping how travelers plan, book, and experience their journeys.

Looking to the future, LG showed an even more engaging range of hospitality robots called CLOi at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Pronounced “Kloh-ee,” these bots can, among other things, clean up, serve food and drinks with a built-in sliding tray, handle baggage and payments at check-in and checkout, and provide directions. Though not in hotels yet, CLOi got its first successful trial at this year’s PyeongChang Olympics, cleaning floors at the Main Press Center. Revenue management is absolutely critical for hotels, but it’s one of the easiest processes to get wrong.

That moment where you call customer service explicitly because you want to talk to a real person? Glenn thinks you might not need that as badly as you think, in part, because the AI won’t care if you swear at it. The new chatbot, named Amadeus Advisor, is integrated into the Agency360+ suite and leverages Azure OpenAI Service to provide quick, natural language responses to complex data queries. Let’s explore some compelling examples of hotels that have successfully harnessed the power of AI, and what this means for the future of hospitality. Another interesting example comes from where else but Japan. Mario spends his time at the front desk and can help guests check-in, give speeches, inspect rooms, discuss the menu, and give presentations.

Engagement: Co-Creating the Future of Hospitality

This isn’t about playing catch-up; it’s about leading a wave of innovation that redefines luxury, convenience, and personalization. In the luxury group, we have 513 open and operating luxury hotels, with 234 hotels in the pipeline. We still see opportunity in primary markets, because each of our brands serve a different purpose for a traveler. (You go to W for a different reason than a Ritz Carlton.) But secondary markets have become quite interesting, like Charlotte, Savannah, Austin. If the secondary market can support those rates and that type of customer — then we should have product for that.

The Hilton company relinquishment of an AI robot serves as a fitting illustration of this. So far guests who interact with the robot can gain sightseer information from it. The capability to acclimatize to different people and learn from the mortal speech is most astounding. In the end, this means that as further druggies interact with it, the better it will emerge. Having secured its footing in Singapore, which accounts for 90% of its business, Vouch now wants to expand overseas, eyeing Indonesia and South Korea where it has offices as well as Japan and the UK. Its target clients are mid-scale to luxury hotels, mainly chains which can roll it out at the group level as well as individual property level.

Marriott International leverages “Marriott’s Dynamic Pricing Engine,” an AI-driven system that dynamically adjusts room rates to optimize revenue. This system analyzes real-time data on market demand, local events, and other critical factors, allowing Marriott to offer competitive pricing while maximizing occupancy. The technology ensures that pricing strategies are responsive to changing market conditions, providing a strategic advantage in a highly competitive industry. As the hospitality industry embraces digital transformation, AI is playing a vital role in reshaping services and operations. Here are some real-world AI in the hospitality industry examples of leading brands that are successfully leveraging this technology to enhance their services and streamline their operations.

This case study illustrates the remarkable impact of HiJiffy’s collaboration with Leonardo Hotels. HiJiffy was founded in 2016 with the mission of developing the most advanced conversational AI for hospitality. Seeking the perfect connection between hotels and their guests, HiJiffy created a powerful Guest Communications Hub. Imagine a hotel where every employee is not just a worker, but an AI innovator and stakeholder in the company’s technological future.

Bret Greenstein, Global VP of Watson Internet of Things at IBM, thinks adding AI to a hotel room is a logical extension of what we already use at home—but better. In Spring 2018, Rose will be the first chatbot to serve casino and loyalty customers from the resort’s Identity Rewards program, automatically lavishing extra attention on them. She may text about free spa treatments, concert tickets, or other benefits they could then automatically book. If a guest has been frequenting a certain bar, she might suggest different on-site venues where they can use their Identity membership card, or recommend her favorite drinks. “We believe hotels’ official websites offer the best deals nowadays and want to shift the existing distribution to hotels’ official websites by letting the hotels to have travel packages as their sales option,” Takamatsu added.

Industry-specific and extensively researched technical data (partially from exclusive partnerships). This will mean that there shouldn’t be a massive difference between your experience in a five-star hotel and a two-star hotel. There will be a reliable consistency that will allow you to get the most out of your stay, whatever your reason for being there. With e-commerce you could stay on the sofa, go online, choose your shoes and have them delivered. The productivity gain was immense because that afternoon became half an hour. It’s often easy to create a “wow” demo, but much harder to develop something that consistently performs as expected.

Connie assists guests by providing information on local attractions, hotel services, and amenities using advanced natural language processing techniques. This not only speeds up the information delivery process but also adds a futuristic touch to guest services. In June, Booking.com launched a chatbot to connect hotels and travelers in two-way communication, which can be used from any device, including iOS and Android. The conversation is more natural, having been freed from templates or automated script. However, specific templates are provided to translate frequently asked questions into 42 different languages.

The Human Element: Overworked, Underpaid, and Undervalued

We have a product called Homes and Villas by Marriott Bonvoy; it hosts about 160,000 homes on a website where customers can earn and redeem their points. It is measured and considered and it has to match the brand that we’re putting forward. We are quite customer-centric, making sure that we are growing in places our customer wants to be. The same way I bet that people in the 1890s could never envision that in 30 years, there’ll be these manned machines in the air flying around. So, in terms of valuation, I’m not going to try and make a guess about whether it is a bubble or not. I do know in the 2000s, there were a lot of people who said the internet is a fad.

Covid gave Vouch the push it needed for adoption by hotels which had to innovate to sell stuff beyond hotel beds. When the pandemic hit, Vouch also quickly expanded its product offerings to add a food & beverage module, including food delivery. It gave that product free to hotels to “build relationships”. Discover how SiteMinder can transform your hotel’s online booking process and drive more revenue. One of the best insights that a booking plugin can provide is simply where people drop off in the process.

• Almost certainly, if you ask another person to annotate the responses, the results will be similar but not identical.
• AI algorithms are enabling dynamic pricing strategies based on real-time demand, traveler behavior, and market trends.
• Expedia has released the first version of a travel planning chatbot powered by ChatGPT on its mobile app.
• This potentially means that hotel owners can save significant money, eliminate human error and deliver superior service.
• This is just the beginning, and if any anyone has the resources to really see what this tech can do in travel, it would be companies like Expedia.
• Bret Greenstein, Global VP of Watson Internet of Things at IBM, thinks adding AI to a hotel room is a logical extension of what we already use at home—but better.

The problem is that there is so much information available today that it leads to overload. To put the information you have in hand to use on your hotel’s behalf, you must sort, organize, cleanse, parse, and then transform it into something usable by human beings. In other words, you must find a way to eliminate inaccurate or duplicated data, organize it so that it all makes sense, and then put it into a format that human beings can digest, such as charts and graphs. Consumers expect the businesses they interact with to personalize all communications. That applies to everything from voice communications to email marketing, social media interactions, and more.

However, sister companies Kayak and OpenTable were among the handful of companies, along with Expedia, that have partnered recently on plugins for ChatGPT. Bebot is currently available in English and Chinese at over 20 hotels and businesses across Japan, such as Holiday Inn and Times Mobility Networks Co., Ltd. Andrew Maister, Tigerair Australia commercial director, said Toby is the latest innovation chatbots hotel by the airline to make booking and flying Tigerair more convenient and interactive than ever before. In fact, data is considered more valuable than any other business asset, including cash. In short, AI is vital to being able to maximize your revenue while automating mundane tasks and reducing the amount of human effort required (and the number of errors caused by humans, as well).

When a device’s camera is pointed to a block of text, trained AI can quickly translate the words into the user’s desired language. One of the most frustrating parts of traveling to a new country can be trying to understand another language in real time — ChatGPT especially when navigating a new area. Only 29% of American travelers learn basic phrases in a country’s native language before visiting, according to a survey from Promova. Booking sites that use AI in travel booking might also see an increase in users.

Select the flight, and you are transferred to Tigerair’s online booking engine to complete the booking. The Booking.com service is significant because it shows how a brand like Booking.com wants to customize its service beyond what, say, Facebook allows with its chatbot platform. To be sure, Booking.com plans to integrate with Facebook Messenger and other chat platforms (Booking.com is already testing implementation on Facebook, for example), to make sure it engages with users wherever they are.

AI can help ensure that you’re able to get it right while also improving efficiency and accuracy. You don’t need to look very far for evidence of this, either. AI-connected remote check-in systems can allow guests to check into their rooms remotely via a smartphone app and never need to stop at the front desk to begin with. In addition to juggling all of these tasks, employees are expected to be courteous, kind, to verify guest documents thoroughly, provide their undivided attention, and answer questions promptly.

Musafir.com will promote holiday packages to AlUla and collaborate on various promotional and marketing initiatives to increase tourist arrivals,” said Sachin Gadoya, Musafir.com’s CEO and co-founder. Musafir.com has curated a range of all-inclusive packages for AlUla with flights, hotels, airport transfers, breakfast and visa assistance. Imagine a world where your hotel’s ability to thrive doesn’t depend on competing for the same slice of pie but on creating an entirely new pie. In 2024, the hospitality industry stands at the brink of a technological revolution—one where AI doesn’t just automate processes but transforms the guest experience, creating value in ways previously unimaginable.

It’s a critical tool for maintaining the luxury and service standards expected at Kempinski properties. The hospitality sector, which is always a step ahead when it comes to redefining “comfort and luxury” for its users, the adoption of AI is fundamentally transforming the very notion of hospitality. Simply put, this approach paves the way for a broader industry trend toward elevating service delivery while optimizing operational efficiencies. By focusing on how AI can automate processes, augment human capabilities, and analyze vast amounts of data, hotels can unlock their full potential, increasing ROI while staying true to the core values of hospitality. While automation replaces repetitive tasks, augmentation involves AI tools that assist humans in making better decisions and enhancing their capabilities.

This kind of continuous learning flywheel, where insights from our free-text interfaces inform our structured views, is a very exciting way for us to keep improving the overall user experience. When the Al boom began, we knew this technology would be monumental, but also that it required a long-term strategy. Our “inside-out” approach involved initially applying Al internally across various departments, focusing on tools that empower our employees before rolling out customer-facing features. First, we wanted our staff to see Al as a helpful tool rather than a threat. Al can help them be more efficient, reducing the need for repetitive and mundane tasks. In days gone by, travelers typically had to call a concierge service or customer help desk to get answers to questions.