Human-Centered AI: How Hotels Can Embrace Automation Thoughtfully
According to Deloitte, 43% of hotels have automated repetitive tasks to help staff. Innovations like Marriott Rennaissance’s AI-concierge and Clarion's Google Wallet hotel room keys are exploring the early possibilities of how hotels can best adopt AI.
No matter how much work we offload to automation, there are still places where only humans can succeed in making a hotel stay the best for the guests. AI on its own cannot solve the problems hotels are facing (labor shortages) in a rapid-paced industry that is dependent on customer service.
Launching automation must be done thoughtfully to ensure it has the positive impact the business wants for its guests and employees. At this point in the AI adoption curve, we can point out some early-stage mistakes that hospitality businesses should avoid that may impact the customer and employee experience. For hoteliers deciding how to strategically implement AI in their business, consider the following:
Give your chatbot the human touch
Chatbots are one of the most evident examples of AI adoption in the hospitality industry. Virtual assistants allow guests instant answers when they are in the process of booking a room, getting Wi-Fi passcodes, checking in or confirming facility hours. On the staffing side, this alleviates burdens for front desk staff who may be spread thin.
By offloading simpler questions to a chatbot, the front desk staff’s cognitive load is reduced. Instead of having to manage the stress of everyone needing them at once – choosing between the three blinking lines on the front desk phone or starting with the line of impatient guests forming in front of them – they can focus on helping the guests with more advanced questions. This allows the front desk employee to provide the level of service with the critical thinking skills and context that automation has not yet developed.
The caveat to adopting this technology is that there should never be the question of whether your hotel is being run by humans or your chatbots. In a report of AI in the Hospitality Industry 2024, 70% of guests find chatbots helpful for simple inquiries, but prefer a human interaction for questions that require more context and deeper understanding.
Relying on automation wholly to fulfill customer service expectations makes the guest experience impersonal, frustrating and inauthentic. People who stay at the hotel will not remember interacting with the chatbot. But your staff’s excellent service and welcoming tones, however, can make their day.
Keep integration in mind
In the race to adopt AI, companies are moving quickly and failing to think through what tools will stand the test of time. Those who adopted AI capabilities as they were available are now seeing a pain point as there is not a unified structure. For example, they started by adopting some form of AI-key cards and then added an AI concierge to help guests plan their stay. But now, when it comes time to gather feedback on these experiments or to upgrade the technology, everything is in different places. There is not a simple way to fix the system or to add a layer since there is not a place where it all lives.
Whereas things are getting “easier” for the guest, who can now book through a third-party website that uses AI to estimate the price of rooms, hotels must watch their technological advancements for the employees. Another common example is that the data from these bookings from third party sites must seamlessly integrate with the hotel’s own reservation system or risk a guest and employee headache come check in time.
Without emphasizing how the technology they are adopting works together, hotels run risks of creating more friction for guests and the employees, who will bear the burden of the blame in the guests’ eyes and who will have to be the ones to use the systems. Unless all AI in use (from chatbots to that of third-party services) all share information in real-time, there runs a large risk of misinformation. Confusion is not the reason or what we hope for when we deploy technology.
Listen to your team
Again, when adopting AI, a huge benefit is reducing employees’ cognitive load. Maybe there are kids unattended in the lobby, a huge line for guest inquiries and the chef needs something urgent at the hotel restaurant only the manager can help with. This mental work the employee juggles is taxing.
Right now, it is especially important to reduce employee burden and increase employee satisfaction. Along with careful integration of AI from tip two, the employees must be managed and included throughout AI implementation. The systems they are used to using cannot disappear overnight. For AI to successfully help them with their jobs, there must be training and changes at a reasonable pace.
This benefits the business’ chances of successful adoption in the bigger picture, too. With a slower technological transition comes an opportunity to receive, and implement, strong feedback on whether the technology will work. Getting employees to weigh in on what will and will not help them with their daily jobs is a step that most businesses do not consider. Everyone wants to rush to adopt AI, but, as exemplified above, if it is not integrated and carefully thought out, that will come with its own problems down the line.
To create a successful AI adoption, focus on the employees who will be responsible for operating the technology.
Your data goldmine
AI programs create guest data which hotels can use to organize personalized experiences. Perhaps a loyal member of the hotel chain always has the same preferences for their towels during their stay – AI can help call this out to the staff the day of their reservation.
While the marketing department can easily incorporate personalization into their advertising campaigns, there is a huge risk of hotels missing out on using this data in day-to-day operations.
As AI advances, hospitality businesses will do well to lead with the concept of co-creation. Similar to how Apple takes into consideration what features users want in the new iPhone, hotels can do this too. To adopt this mentality in conjunction with your AI, look at what feedback you’re getting online. Review customer sentiment about your processes. Are the AI key cards a challenge for people to access, or are the chatbots unhelpful? Then try something else out.
Just because the hotel still has people visit is not a reason to keep the business-as-usual status quo. Use AI to analyze their feedback and ether reports on what the guests want to see. Then implement these changes to enhance customer loyalty.
Human to Human
To make AI implementation sustainable in hotels, leaders must consider the reason of the use case first and foremost. Secondly, will it be easy to adopt and maintain? Thirdly, how can they ensure their staff members will benefit from the technology? Without these considerations, hotels risk further complicating their employees’ jobs, leading to low morale and dissatisfied guests.
Finally, to give the guests what they want and have a better experience, hotels must be prepared to implement feedback given. Use the AI to analyze what is good and what needs improvement. With AI, the timing has never been better to make hotels a space of co-creation where the guests lead.
And of course, hotels must continue to re-evaluate to ensure that these are still true of all the AI functions in use – sensical, ease of integration, and adding to both the customer and employee experience. If one of these is not working, revisit the use case.
Focus on improving humans’ lives first, from the employee to guest experience. Your team is key to creating loyal hotel guests. Use automation as a tool to free up their time, enabling them to focus on what your guests value most.
About the Author
By Bob Vergidis is Chief Visionary Officer and founder of pointofsale.cloud.
