AI in hotel management

The hotel business is very difficult to manage. To achieve success in it, you need to do everything perfectly: coordinate the work of several teams, keep financial indicators under control, and constantly stay in touch with guests, collecting valuable feedback. Although traditional applications made it possible to automate individual processes, until recently they were not interconnected and did not have a significant impact on the success of the hotel business. However, that all changed with the arrival of artificial intelligence (AI). We will tell you how it is changing the way hotels work today, and what innovative solutions we can see in the near future.

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How is artificial intelligence already optimizing hotel management?

Naturally, developers could not ignore this market. Seeing the urgent need for automation without specific working solutions today, they came up with several options for using AI, which we will consider in more detail.

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Pricing management

Experienced receptionists know that every hotel has its own seasonality. This allows them to regulate room occupancy and increase revenues by managing prices flexibly. However, demand fluctuations do not depend only on the season. When AI gets down to business, it takes into account dozens of other factors:

• occupancy and prices of the nearest hotels;
• market, economic and even political environment;
• long-term weather forecasts;
• travel trends on social media;
• business climate in the region;
• the presence of mass events nearby, etc.

This makes it possible to forecast demand much more accurately than using traditional methods. According to data Paro AI, even immediately after launch, artificial intelligence is 70— 80% accurate against 64% for analysts. As the model is trained, this figure increases to 85— 95%.

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Chatbots

Today it is one of the most popular uses of artificial intelligence in most business sectors. AI in the form of a chatbot can:

• accept an order and book a room;
• recommend optimal check-in and check-out dates, taking into account the customer's needs;
• summarize the rules of staying at the hotel;
• politely but effectively request feedback;
• confirm payment and send documents;
• accept the complaint and forward it to the appropriate department.

According to statistics collected Master of Code Global, chatbots increase the productivity of customer support departments and call centers by 40— 80%. At the same time, 87.2% of customers generally speak positively about the experience with the machine, and 67% would definitely choose an instant connection to AI instead of waiting 5 minutes for an operator to respond.

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Self-service

In many tourist regions, hotels are already introducing self-service cabins. They allow guests to check in, check out, extend their stay or order additional services on their own. All they need is to install the mobile app, have an ID card at hand, and agree to undergo facial recognition.

The introduction of artificial intelligence makes this process as comfortable and humane as possible. Virtual concierges provide assistance every step of the way and patiently explain exactly what options are available to the guest. Experiments in Dubai, Los Angeles, Rome, Tokyo, Singapore and other cities show that more than 90% of guests can check in through self-service booths. Only 10% require personalized service to improve service quality or solve complex problems.

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Energy-efficient comfort

According to data Energy Star Alliance, up to 10-30% of electricity in hotels is used inefficiently due to outdated approaches to infrastructure management. Artificial intelligence can compensate for this shortcoming by studying the guest's behavior and daily routine. It will be:

• turn on heating and air conditioning just before the guest arrives;
• automatically put the equipment into “sleep mode” when the guest is resting;
• turn off the lights or minimize the brightness in rooms where no one is currently present.

AI can rely not only on predictions, which, however, sometimes fail. It can use data from internal security systems, for example, scan a key card at the entrance to the lobby and prepare in advance for the guest's arrival in the room. It is also possible to use biometric systems, for example, face recognition, but their data must be transmitted only in anonymized form.

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Review and feedback analysis

Image and reputation are the highest value in the hotel industry. One negative review can cancel out twenty positive ones. Deleting them is a deliberately losing strategy that will lead to widespread publicity and hype on social networks. It is much better to consider each case individually, contacting the author of the comment and offering compensation for the negative experience.

Artificial intelligence is able to analyze thousands of reviews in minutes, highlighting:

• keywords that indicate the source of the problem or positive experience;
• emotional coloring that helps assess the client's mood and choose the right communication tactics;
• link to other comments, which indicates the complex nature of the problem and requires an individual approach.

Thanks to AI, customer support services can respond to positive and negative comments in a timely manner, selecting the optimal solution for each case. This helps to generally strengthen the company's reputation and improve its ratings on social media or aggregator sites.

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What AI solutions may be available tomorrow?

Despite the massive introduction of AI into all possible fields of activity, humanity has so far revealed only a small part of the potential of this technology. However, work in this direction is already underway. We will tell you what solutions may appear in the hotel industry in the near future.

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Full service automation

If robots can drive cars and deliver goods thousands of miles away, why not trust them with the simplest tasks in the hotel industry? They are perfectly capable of handling daily cleaning, bringing food and accessories to the room, collecting trash, and even changing bed linen. Of course, such a machine will be somewhat more complicated and more expensive than a robot vacuum cleaner, but the investment in it is fully justified.

Robotization of hotels makes it possible to reduce the costs of the most expensive and unpredictable part of the company's budget — staff salaries. It will also help reduce the negative effect of constant staff turnover and reduce the burden on the HR department.

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Smart buildings

You probably already know what a smart home is. A smart building is the same thing, only on a large scale and with special attention to engineering infrastructure. Numerous sensors warn of possible breakdowns and promptly call maintenance services, possibly also automated ones. They will also send signals about minor problems — scattered garbage, puddles, mud, open doors, etc.

On the one hand, smart buildings will prevent engineering disasters and optimize hotel maintenance costs. On the other hand, they will significantly reduce the number of superficial problems, improving the guest experience.

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Improving safety

Predictive analytics systems are already being used at airports and other public places. In hotels, they will be able to work even more efficiently by detecting suspicious guest behavior in advance. If a guest is going to break the law, the hotel will be able to warn him in advance about liability, and if necessary, contact law enforcement agencies. This will significantly reduce reputational risks, which will develop into real damage when committing a crime.

Predictive analytics in hotels can also work in a fundamentally different direction. Smart hotels will be able to recognize health problems in advance and call for help even with a “Do Not Disturb” sign.

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Full control

Artificial intelligence can reduce the need for manual control of engineering systems, for example, turning lights on and off, adjusting the temperature in the shower and changing air conditioning parameters. By analyzing a person's behavior, gestures and reactions, every second they will learn more about the guest's needs and adapt better to them.

The mass introduction of engineering systems management using voice and gestures, for example, through smart speakers and Smart TV, is just around the corner. And top hotel chains are already experimenting with programs that remember guests' preferences and automatically restore settings when they visit again.

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The bright future of the hotel industry

Artificial intelligence makes the impossible possible. It helps hotel and hotel chain managers predict demand and set optimal prices, reduces staff workload, reduces energy consumption, and even improves business reputation. More to come. In the foreseeable future, we will see smart buildings, integrated security systems, full automation of room services and intuitive management of engineering networks.

Start.Duck is ready to help you integrate artificial intelligence into hotel management systems. We develop individual approaches that take into account the specifics of your business and help maintain the overall appearance of work processes, significantly increasing their efficiency. This facilitates the introduction of new technologies and helps to avoid resistance from staff, obtaining the desired result.