Editor’s note: After expanding to include a suite of data solutions for hotel owners and operators, MDO (myDigitalOffice) rebranded to become Otelier in February 2024. Please excuse any brand inconsistencies in the content below.
This article was originally published on hotelsmag.com.
Explore the transformative power of AI in the hotel industry with commentary from Otelier Hospitality Data Evangelist Jason Freed and discover how Hyatt Hotels Corp. and industry leaders are leveraging AI to enhance guest satisfaction and streamline operations.
Despite its best efforts, there remains more than a scintilla of skepticism around artificial intelligence or AI. But it’s not so much about the technology itself; it’s how it will be deployed and its impact on the human race. It’s scary, it’s exciting, it’s bold, it’s uncertain, it’s here and it’s only growing.
Consider ChatGPT, the language model-based chatbot that burst on the scene in late 2022 and became an instant source of curiosity, giving hope to procrastinating and duplicitous students worldwide. But its potential applications for the hotel industry are several: it can speed response rates to customer requests, provide customization, reduce certain customer service needs provided by humans, improve SEO—which can all lead to higher customer satisfaction rates and better experiences.
For instance, one practical application could be delivered through a hotel’s app, where guests can have access to local recommendations based on persona, such as restaurants and retail. Or, like a virtual operator, it can respond to customer inquiries, while continually learning and becoming smarter with each interaction.
AI may very well be a newish technology for the masses to experiment with, but its emergence stretches back to the mid-20th century, with the likes of Alan Turing, who was memorialized in the 2014 film “The Imitation Game.” Since then, it’s matured, with the likes of Google and OpenAI carrying the torch. It’s no longer an expectation but a certitude that businesses will further adopt and adapt to AI to fuel and streamline operations. Consider the ubiquity of chatbots, which (try to) simulate human conversations and (attempt to) provide helpful responses to inquiries. Seek to, because more often than not, they don’t provide the answer, leaving the user yearning for a human. AI, still, is poised to engender automation, which, as it goes, could free up humans to do other things machines can’t yet achieve.
Read the full article by Hotels Magazine to learn what impacts, opportunities, and challenges leaders are contemplating for the hotel industry.
