DOs and DONTs of AI and LLMs for Hotels By Terence Ronson

The announcement follows Azizi’s recently revealed plans to enter the hospitality sector, with its new chief operating officer — hospitality, Michael Zager, leading the developer’s newly established hospitality division. The developer also said that it has already acquired most of the necessary plots of land for its hotels and is planning to launch the construction before the end of 2023. AI can improve digital marketing by enhancing customer personalization, generating better content — through tools such as ChatGPT — and tracking user journeys from website to website and click to click. Adding a chatbot provides information to potential guests and can encourage more guest bookings and create conversations. Scheduling and training processes are becoming streamlined; revenue management has improved optimizations, and SEO and marketing strategies rely on AI to enhance online visibility. Chatbots are used for customer service and exist with many hotel providers today.

As AI systems become more sophisticated and accessible, hoteliers are discovering unprecedented opportunities to streamline operations, enhance guest experiences, and most importantly, boost their bottom line. One of the key misconceptions about AI is that it will replace human workers. In reality, the future of AI in hotels is about human-AI harmony, where people and machines work together to create an enhanced guest experience and optimized business performance. United Arab Emirates-based Azizi Developments has announced its plans to invest up to $16 billion through the launch of 50 upmarket, luxury hotels and resorts and one seven-star hotel in Dubai. The developer plans to add nearly 20,000 new keys to Dubai’s hotel stock over the next five years. Azizi’s hotels and resorts would be managed by its very own hospitality division, the company said in a statement.

If ChatGPT drives gains for Saudi’s largest travel player, companies worldwide will take note. Plus, this week’s news from Red Sea Global, Oyo, Musafir, and other regional companies. The future, in our opinion, won’t be purely free text or structured but a balance between the two. While it’s easier to click a button than to type a word, specifying something unique is often much simpler with free text than navigating through a list of fixed options that might not match exactly. Compared to Europe and the United States, Asia is much more diverse across its different regions and countries. Customers in Japan versus India, for example, have very different needs when it comes to payment options, languages and even the types of accommodations they offer.

The Impact of Hospitality Intelligence on Operations

Firstly, AI-powered algorithms can analyze vast amounts of data, including user preferences, booking history, and market trends, to provide tailored recommendations and customized experiences for guests. This level of personalization not only improves user satisfaction and loyalty, but it increases conversion rates and revenue for hotels. Saudi Arabia’s Almosafer is piloting the integration of artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, on its mobile booking platforms. The country’s first travel company to test the integration of ChatGPT, Almosafer believes this will enhance the booking experience by providing more tailored responses to customer queries.

The challenge is that it’s often hard to predict what the customer wants to see or do in a concise way, especially on a small phone screen. For generative Al projects in particular, we’ve found that they follow a similar cycle. It’s often ChatGPT App pretty easy to create a basic prototype but very challenging to make it good enough for production. Ensuring the application consistently produces high-quality output can be tough, as the underlying technology is unpredictable.

From where he sits, the hotels don’t necessarily want to operate customer service in a hundred languages or take dozens of different payment methods, and that’s the service Booking is offering. Marriott International utilizes AI chatbots on platforms like Facebook Messenger and Slack to offer instant responses to guest inquiries. These bots streamline the booking process and provide local travel tips, ensuring guests have a smooth and enjoyable experience from booking to stay.

When it comes to travel industry chatbots, a few key themes arise, which may correlate with an industry shift to millennial audiences. HelloGBye also says its software can manage itineraries and even more complex voice requests involve more than one traveler. Users who don’t wish to record voice messages can also send a text-based message with multiple travel requests to its chatbot. When a user first opens the HelloGBye app, they are asked a few multiple-choice travel preference questions on a page which looks like a simple online survey.

AI-Powered Travel Planning and Booking

Come back in a few years — I’ll let you know how it worked out. I thought I understood that trend, but Glenn’s view is that it’s actually an outlier. Even the biggest hotel chatbots chains in the world, he said — your Marriotts and your Hyatts —  benefit from online travel managers like Booking because the world is so big and complicated.

• From there, users can continue giving directions to the AI for further hyper-personalization.
• Existing text translation services, such as the one offered by Google or IBM Watson, aren’t perfect, though, so Booking.com is developing its own technology in-house.
• By leveraging natural language understanding and machine learning, ChatBotlr reportedly gets smarter the more it interacts with guests.
• In this future, hotels will become more than just places to stay – they become hubs of innovation, incubators of ideas, and showcases of what’s possible when human potential is unleashed through technology.

Our look at the most important tourism stories, including destination management, marketing, and development. Oman’s ministry of heritage and tourism plans to implement 40 projects for boosting adventure tourism in the country. The projects include developing a cable car in the Botanical Garden and installing zip lines in Wadi Darbat in Dhofar for the khareef season. A zipline in Musandam was recently inaugurated, while a suspension bridge is being built in Wadi Shab in South Sharqiyah. The ministry also plans to create mountain trails in Hawar village in Wadi Bani Khalid and Wadi al Arbaeen, both known for their perpetual springs.

In September, Wyndham launched a guest engagement platform featuring AI-driven messaging that allows guests to text hotels directly with any questions about their stay. And several online travel companies ChatGPT have integrated AI chatbots to help travelers create personalized trip itineraries and book hotel stays. The main reason for hotels to introduce Bebot is to increase operational efficiency.

In that vein, we also have a brand called the Ritz Carlton Reserve, with seven open hotels in exotic, far flung places. The most recent one we opened is in Saudi Arabia, called Nujuma. The hotels tend to be on the smaller side; no more than 75 to 80 rooms or suites with extensive wellness facilities and a very high level of service.

The company’s CTO, Henry Shi, previously served as a software engineer at Google, where he assisted in the launch of Youtube’s Music Insights. The feature aggregates viewing information from all videos that the artist has uploaded, as well as videos from their profile that have been copied and reuploaded by fans. Music Insights then generates a dashboard for the artist, which offers easy to understand fan demographics.

I tell you, there are a lot of benefits to having an AI agent versus a human. We’ll take the money from the customer in China, we’ll put Euros into the bank account of a Swiss hotel. Well, because Switzerland doesn’t use the Euro, we’ll put in Swiss francs for them.

• He may not be able to attend to detailed questions or feedback relating to their booking or flight experience.
• In this article, we’ll explore how AI is driving return on investment (ROI) for hotels by focusing on the three A’s—Automate, Augment, and Analyze.
• 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.
• However, using AI in travel planning is an easy way for travelers to complete the booking process by themselves, without time-intensive searches.

Redesigning a lobby is, after all, time-consuming, expensive and, above all, disruptive. Simultaneously, technologies like Genie can act as a portable, personal concierge, giving tips on the best places to eat, drink and explore, regardless of whether the guest is in the hotel or exploring the city outside. Once, science-fiction predicted that we would eventually live in a world filled with robots that make our lives simpler and easier. They’re bits of code that live in the technology we use every day. We also use a threshold of 0.3 to determine whether the semantic search fallback results are strong enough to display. Crucially, this threshold was obtained from an unrelated dataset.

Optimizing AI Operations

We want to keep our customers within our ecosystem, and give them every experience in travel they need. If you’re a good business person, you have to worry about everything. 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. We don’t build it ourselves; we’re buying technology from others and customizing the portions that we need to customize in order to deliver the experience we want to deliver. We’re seeing a lot of interest, and it’s become a really important asset class from an investor perspective.

In the long term, the opportunities AI gives us are likely to increase the complexity of operations and drive a shift to distributed management. RENAI was created based on the understanding that Renaissance Hotel guests are “interested in emerging tech that is clever and has personality,” Marriott said in the announcement. This shift presents an exciting opportunity for us in two key aspects. First, it allows us to leverage our data more effectively.

You use the word roll-up; I used to be an investment banker, and a roll-up by definition really means taking a lot of companies and merging them together into one company and reducing costs. I’ve been at the company now since 2000, so I’ve been here a long time; I helped do all the deals. So, when we brought a company in, all of them were very small when we bought them, and one of the key things to get entrepreneurs to come and stay with us was to create an independent management style. So, the people who had started these companies would want to continue to do what they’re doing so well.

Incorporating Artificial Intelligence in hotels is stipulated to transform room services completely by 2025 through the process of creating personalized experiences that will incorporate individual preferences. Towards this, hotels will integrate chatbots and AI as a useful tool to acquire and retain various demographics. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. AI-based customer services such as chatbots have developed and become more prevalent. A panel of industry leaders in the customer experience space explored just how much. Don’t get buried in the daily minutia of hotel operations. Rather, consult with technology partners to integrate with other solutions, identify focus areas, and devise a plan to modernize your tech stack and build a unified data strategy.

” That’s what our job is — to provide them what they want, and we’ll provide them the value so they can get it better from us than they could other ways. Because let’s face it, as I say, what we’re doing is an information transaction, and going out and getting information is very, very inexpensive nowadays. Another way to say that is, the customer is just one click away from somebody else. Yes, I’ll ask questions, and I’ll listen to the answer and see how confident that person is speaking, that person really knows what they’re saying, and that it makes sense what they’re saying. Of course, when we’re reporting, we’re talking about which areas there are. I don’t remember the exact number — it’s over 200 countries and areas around the world.

That’s the thing you have to think about, all the different ways things are done. Because it’s cheaper to get the electricity from the utility, right? Well, we provide customers that they would not be able to get, or if they could, it would cost a lot more than us providing it for them. In conclusion, the integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the hospitality sector represents a paradigm shift, not just in operational efficiencies and guest services, but also in shaping future industry standards. By systematically addressing these stages, hotels not only enhance their current operations but also lay a solid foundation for future advancements. This proactive approach ensures that hotels remain competitive in a rapidly evolving industry, continually improving their service offerings and operational efficiencies through the strategic use of AI.

Data-Backed Ways AI is Revolutionizing Hotels: Boost Revenue, Enhance Guest Experience, and Streamline Operations

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. For hotels and other players in the travel industry, embracing AI-driven solutions will be crucial in capturing new market opportunities and delivering unforgettable guest experiences. AI is redefining what personalization means in hospitality. It’s no longer enough to know your guest’s name; today, it’s about anticipating their needs before they even check in. AI-powered tools analyze guest preferences, behaviors, and feedback in real time, allowing your hotel to offer personalized experiences that feel bespoke, not cookie-cutter. AI can improve the way hotels manage day-to-day operations.

We’re having different groups have meetings across brands to ensure that all the companies are learning what’s working in one, what’s working in another. A lot of the opportunity right now for a lot of companies is increasing productivity through generative AI stuff. But in terms of the day-to-day stuff that you really go down deep, deep, deep… We got really into why a company like Booking.com exists in the first place. Anyone who’s part of a hotel or airline reward program here in the US has probably noticed recently that those companies are working really hard right now to cut out the middleman and get you to book directly with them.

Looking specifically at generative AI’s predicted impact on jobs, service operations are the only function in which most survey respondents expect a decrease in workforce size. Alison Roller is a freelance writer with experience in tech, HR and marketing. Recently, the Transportation Security Administration began using AI for facial recognition and ID verification in airports across the United States. Facial recognition technology uses biometrics to analyze facial features, fingerprints and iris patterns to verify a person’s identity. It’s creating the profile, but the technology should allow us to do it faster and with more precision. To me, number one is being thoughtful about design and architecture.

The insights presented in this publication can empower your hotel teams to review and improve information about your hotel and be better prepared for the upcoming peak season of summer 2024. Moreover, the radical concept of employees as AI co-creators and shareholders represents a revolutionary approach to tackling the industry’s longstanding challenges. This approach doesn’t just solve the problems of employee undervaluation and technological stagnation – it obliterates them, replacing outdated paradigms with a model of shared innovation and success. The hotel industry stands at the threshold of a transformative era, one that promises to redefine the very essence of hospitality through the symbiosis of artificial intelligence and human ingenuity.

AI’s predictive capabilities extend beyond pricing to inventory management. By forecasting demand with greater accuracy, hotels can optimize their inventory allocation, reducing the likelihood of overbooking or underbooking. This not only improves guest satisfaction but also ensures that hotels are maximizing their occupancy rates without risking costly booking errors. When hotels consider incorporating AI into their operations, it’s essential to conduct an assumption-implication analysis. This helps them navigate the complexities of AI integration and ensure that it delivers real value.

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.

One of the key issues arising from the traditional ‘check-in desk’ setup is that customers often don’t want to engage with a member of staff. This is doubly true in hotels, where guests often arrive from a long journey with tired children in tow. This makes it more challenging for members of staff to upsell hotel amenities, offer upgrades and generally make a good first impression. When numerous guests try to check-in simultaneously, staff can be overwhelmed, leading to delays that could impact a guest’s overall perception of the hotel.

Chatbots use natural language processing and machine learning to analyze user input and produce appropriate answers based on knowledge it has learned from different datasets. Guests just need to use their smart phone to scan a code given during check-in to start chatting on their preferred messaging platform like Facebook Messenger. Once connected, certain guest requests that the front desk normally processes can be completed by Bebot. A recent traveler surveys show that over 85 percent of travelers feel comfortable using chat to contact a hotel’s front desk or to get local recommendations when traveling.

There’s other issues here, especially in the comparison to Google. Everybody would like customers to come to them directly and at no cost. Distribution’s a very important part about how you sell stuff, but the desire to sell directly has always been there and always will be there. But at the end of the day, you really have to depend on the team. The coach helps lead the team, but the coach doesn’t play. The coach is setting up a structure and hiring great talent and making sure that great talent then goes out and executes to their best.

Once a user books a hotel stay through the links provided, the bot will send messages to confirm the booking. Once a trip is booked, users can also ask it for restaurant, shopping, and other excursion suggestions. Hipmunk has also won two Webby awards, and is nominated for a third, in the travel category for its excellence and variety of tools. In 2016, the company was acquired for $58 million by Concur Technologies, a travel expensing platform. It is unclear how much Concur paid for the acquisition, but in a press release, the company said Hipmunk will still continue to run as its own service. However, Concur plans to integrate Hipmunk’s search technology on to its company oriented business-trip oriented platform.

We’ll be appealing this, so it’s not over until it’s over on that one. As it happens, I know that 1980s law that you’re talking about pretty well — it’s the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. It’s the law that says you can’t access the computer system without permission, and if you do…

Given the right data, AI algorithms can identify patterns and make predictions in seconds. AI can also analyze lesser-known data points, such as social media posts or images. It is measured and considered and it has to match the brand that we’re putting forward. Otherwise, I think you’re going to disappoint the customer. We are quite customer-centric, making sure that we are growing in places our customer wants to be.

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