Despite the negative depictions in science fiction and widespread public concern over privacy, security and safety, artificial intelligence presents the possibility for real positive change, human advancement and competitive growth.
AI disruption has already begun in the business world, and the hospitality industry should pay close attention. Hotel companies must already be strategizing about how they can take advantage of this inevitable new wave of automation and guest-experience evolution.
But, if you’re among the averse or uncertain, here are a few tips to help you let AI into your life a little more.
Have confidence in machine decision-making
We all know the scenario: We turn on the GPS, punch in our destination, wait for the recommended best route - then dismiss it as inaccurate. We opt instead to take our own familiar route or perceived shortcut only to realize later, while stuck in traffic, that we should have had faith in the path chosen for us.
The lack of AI adoption by the hotel industry is a bit vexing.
Klaus Kohlmayr - IDEAS
This distrust of technology happens all too often at hotels as well. Smart people dismiss forecasts or pricing recommendations from their analytics software, only to make poor revenue strategy choices time and again.
Recently, a prominent hotel was pleasantly surprised to see a 40% revenue uplift when their employees stopped overriding the revenue management system’s decisions.
Why aren’t we intelligent enough to trust the intelligence? Maybe it is a question of users given too much control and choice. Many current systems are overly complex and invite the user to play around with it through a range of options and customization features.
Perhaps it’s time to do away with the override button entirely and reduce some of the complexity so users will relax their need for control and gain more confidence in machine decision-making.
Hotels relying on old-fashioned, manual pricing tactics can’t hold a candle to the revenue-enhancing capabilities of automated, machine-learning data-analytics software. These folks may as well try competing against a chess-playing computer. It’s worth noting that chess programs surpassed the abilities of even the most skilled human players decades ago, processing all possible choices and outcomes with every move, then choosing the most strategic option.
Humans just don’t have the brain functionality or capacity to work through it all with even remotely the same level of speed or accuracy. The same applies to hotel revenue managers caught in the whirlwind of hotel operations - and under a massive cloud of big data - trying to effectively and efficiently monitor and change their daily rates.
Embrace technology to optimize productivity
While I am convinced that AI has many merits, I admittedly used to be a sceptic about robots in hotels. I imagined robots being what 3D TV was for electronics manufacturers: a much-overhyped but largely useless gimmick that failed miserably.
After much thought, debate and discussion with industry leaders, however, I’ve come to see bots in a new light - not as a replacement for people, but as a way to enable hotel employees to decrease stress and increase efficiency and job satisfaction in an industry that chronically struggles with labor shortages and high turnover.
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Roll hundreds of napkins a day? Spend hours delivering forgotten toothbrushes, soaps and sewing kits? These are some of the mundane tasks smart hoteliers have spotted as key opportunities to let machines take over, in turn freeing up employees to do more mentally stimulating work.
While front-of-house, human-like robots get all the attention, the industry must grapple with the difficulties of customer acceptance and potential pushback in a high-touch service environment. In the meantime, the back-of-house, workhorse robots represent the true revolution. The gains in productivity and incremental profitability borne by automation will be significant.
By embracing technology - yes, even robots - and offloading repetitive and time-consuming tasks, hotel managers can get out of the weeds and think at a higher level about their business strategy. After the most recent announcements of the new Google Assistant capabilities to mimic human behavior you can call me a firm believer now.
Intelligence is a good thing, right?
Maybe the pejorative “artificial” is part of the problem. Perhaps something like “seamless intelligence” would be more palatable. At any rate, the lack of AI adoption by the hotel industry is a bit vexing.
If consumers today want seamless intelligence, has the industry already abdicated innovation to the likes of Google and Apple?
Klaus Kohlmayr - IDEAS
Despite my prior skepticism about robotics, I have always believed in the power of ones and zeros to improve lives. Digital-based retail and service companies like Amazon, Uber, Netflix and Spotify offer a frictionless experience, making it easier for consumers to shop, travel and be entertained.
We live in a convenience economy where hotel guests will increasingly seek the frictionless experience option, but companies like Airbnb continue to innovate while the rest of the hotel industry sits back and complains.
Legacy technology and fragmented data continue to be challenges that everyone talks about but only few hotels have addressed. If consumers today want seamless intelligence, has the industry already abdicated innovation to the likes of Google and Apple?
Certainly robotics and AI have many benefits, and we are at a major tipping point. Both will soon be part of our daily personal and professional lives, which means we need to cultivate and use these capabilities to enable new interactions and experiences to our advantage.
Most importantly, we must learn how to trust the inherent intelligence of AI and accept that some things are better left to the mind of the machine.
About the author...
Klaus Kohlmayr is chief evangelist at
IDEAS, a hotel revenue management and technology specialist.