Today lots of industries follow the road of digitizing, adopting different IT solutions to be more effective, add more value for the consumers, fuel growth and drive revenue. Hospitality is no exception. There is a myriad of changes that have already been made in the field taking customer experience to the next level. However, it’s the very beginning of the revolution and in this article, we’re going to highlight how AI can improve the hotel service and dramatically enhance the guest experience in a short time.
Why is Artificial Intelligence becoming important in the hospitality industry?
Why is Artificial Intelligence becoming important in the hospitality industry?Due to the fast growth of the demands and expectations of the guests, the hospitality industry needs new solutions to meet the requirements and stay competitive. AI technologies can enhance customer experience and improve the hotels as well. Reducing costs, smart automation of existing processes like better and more accurate management are just a few advantages that are expected from the adoption of AI solutions.
8 Ways How AI Can Improve Customer Experience in the Hospitality Business
The digital revolution has already changed the hospitality business. Let’s take a closer look at how exactly the AI technologies can reshape the hospitality industry and what solutions can bring to both hotels and their guests. We picked out 8 ways how AI can improve customer experience and drive the constant growth and revenue of hotels.
Fuel the Guest Journey
The cutting-edge technologies help hoteliers to map the guest journey from the very first touch with the customer. So, today the main focus is on the recording, tracking and analyzing the guest journey, just because it’s the best way to reveal all weak and growth points of the business. Moreover, it’s crucial for improving customer experience. That makes AI vital to process and automate the sifting through massive amounts of data gathered.
Optimize Business Processes with AI
According to the latest research, 89% of hoteliers have found that AI reduces hotel operating costs. All kinds of management systems from booking, housekeeping, consumer data management, reporting and others with built-in AI technology can simplify the process on all levels. Thus, the hoteliers can track, control and manage the data more accurately with less time and human resources needed.
Analyze Guest Data to Deliver a More Personalized Experience
As we’ve already mentioned, the solution helps to process all the information about the guest collected and carry out an in-depth analysis of the customer data to personalize the service. Implementing AI-based technologies like chatbots gives you an opportunity not only to be in touch with your guests and provide them 24/7 support, but learn the behavioral patterns, tastes, preferences, and other issues about your guests to personalize the offers. In addition to that, thanks to AI-powered solutions, you can drive increased hotel performance as well.
Provide a Better Booking Experience
The easier and more flexible booking process is another key advantage of AI in hospitality. Thanks to AI-based chatbots and assistance, hoteliers can convert a guest into a regular customer. Using the AI solutions for booking, you provide your consumers with a fast-paced delivery service, 24/7 availability, booking service with a range of custom options available, and that’s without any human interference required.
In-Person Customer Service
Answering the inquiries, solving the common problems and assisting with the hotel service can be taken by the AI technologies. Due to the NLP and ability to learn, the AI solutions can “speak” in a human-like way with higher accurate responses. Booking, reservation and even check-out can be held without an employee. Though, for now, the solution can be used for support, but not for the replacement of the hotel staff.
Generate Predictions
Having a massive volume of data about your guests that includes their habits, behavior patterns, preferences, demographics, booking data, and tons of other info, AI-based apps can help you to generate predictions about what guests are probably going to opt for. Using the AI technologies, hoteliers can forecast any issues, customer wants and needs even before they arise. Thus, you can personalize the offer based on the predictions. That’s a way to improve guest satisfaction, increase customer loyalty and brand advocacy.
Working Teamwise with Hotel Staff
AI technologies have the power to free the employees’ time for focusing on higher-value tasks. Thus, the AI-chatbots implemented can enhance the guest experience by answering the questions and providing support. Speaker systems along with personal assistants can make the staying more comfortable. IoT advanced in-room controls and other technologies can help your staff to make their work more accurate without a need to be involved in the process. Besides, it’s around-the-clock service without a need to pay a salary to a worker.
Meet Guests Expectations and Demands
The requirements rise dramatically. Millennials expect that all their inquiries and expectations to be met almost immediately. The hotels must be high-technological and modern to meet all the demands. The technology is bound to help you with it. AI-based solutions learn and upgrade with every conversation held with the customer. Therefore, the answers and recommendations are personalized. Another advantage of AI is quick responses that will satisfy the clients with immediate replies and accurate info provided. Due to the fact that AI solutions can generate predictions, you can complete the task even easier.
Bottom line
Today it’s obvious that AI offers a range of innovative capabilities designed to improve the hotels, their services and further enhance the overall guest experience. The key issues where the trending solution can help hoteliers are:
- Artificial Intelligence can dramatically reduce the hotel operating costs by providing 24/7 assistance to the guests without human interference required, sought-after hotel management systems, fast and accurate processing of data;
- AI technologies implemented can significantly enhance the in-room guest experience;
- Hoteliers can provide more personalized service, basing on the guest data collected and analyzed on all touchpoints, predict the customer behavior and suggest the best solutions or offers;
- AI takes the conversation between hotels and guests to the next level by shifting it from a request-based to a two-way dialogue.
It’s just a few advantages the hotels can receive by using the AI solutions, making hotels smart and guest-centric. However, there are some problems and difficulties you may meet on the way of adoption of AI, that you’d mind:
- poor understanding of AI technologies;
- lack of the enthusiasm of the employees on the way of adoption;
- insufficient adaptation to the innovations;
- limited knowledge on how to leverage AI solutions for improving the guest experience.
Solving these and alike challenges on the way of implementing the AI solutions, hoteliers can enhance the service dramatically. Thus, AI is going to change the very essence of the hospitality industry.
Alexey Kutsenko is the Head of Digital Marketing of DDI Development company. He is experienced in the development of the marketing strategy for companies in different industries. He knows how to do the right marketing and watches all current marketing and industry trends.
