7 ways AI is affecting the travel industry

This approach is separate from a hotel’s technology integration strategy, but the ethos is similar. As such, operators must find ways to coax partners into working together or find new partners. This technology is poised to bring innovation to hospitality and all other industries and is waiting for no one. Today’s chatbots can already provide guests with a hotel’s Wi-Fi password, confirm opening hours for hotel services, and request reminders or wake-up calls.

• Leveraging these cost reductions without compromising service quality, we’re forecasting more hotels and more vacation rentals in currently lesser-known locales.
• This radical model doesn’t just adapt to the AI revolution – it puts employees in the driver’s seat, steering the very course of technological evolution in the industry.
• Along with these new releases, Google is expanding access to Bard’s existing English language features, including the ability to upload images with Google Lens, get Search images in responses and modify Bard’s responses — to more than 40 new languages.
• Nevertheless, it’s happening; generative AI is here to stay and here for taking.

Information must be accessible under one unified PMS designed to connect revenue management, room management, and operations systems to flourish, let alone leverage AI. Travelers are engaging with hotels via text messages and digital interactions, ChatGPT App with the PMS serving as the central hub for behavioral guest information. While hospitality may seem like the last place you might expect to find Artificial Intelligence, this technology has significantly impacted how hoteliers do business.

Voice-assisted technology

And just because I have the title of CEO doesn’t mean I know everything. My biggest decision is really making sure that I’m hiring the right people, the best people, and even there, I’m using other people to help me make that decision. 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. At Wynn Las Vegas, AI-enhanced HVAC systems adjust the room environment based on real-time data like occupancy and individual guest preferences. This not only ensures optimal comfort for guests but also contributes to significant energy savings.

With e-commerce you could stay on the sofa, go online, choose your shoes and have them delivered. The productivity gain was immense because that afternoon became half an hour. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. Industry-specific and extensively researched technical data (partially from exclusive partnerships). It’s creating the profile, but the technology should allow us to do it faster and with more precision.

Best Buy, for instance, is using Google’s technology to build virtual assistants that can help you troubleshoot product issues and reschedule order deliveries. IHG Hotels & Resorts is working on another that can help you plan a vacation in its mobile app, while Mercedes Benz is using Gemini to improve its own smart sales assistant. In addition, we get to see the traveler across many different verticals. So, while an airline may know a lot of habits about that person in terms of their flight things they like to do, how they like to do their flights, they don’t know a lot about their hotel preferences.

Whether it’s enhancing customer service through chatbots, refining pricing strategies with dynamic algorithms, or delivering unforgettable personalized experiences with AI-driven concierge services, the benefits are undeniable. Warren Dehan is the President of Maestro, the preferred Web Browser based cloud and on-premises all-in-one PMS solution for independent hotels, luxury resorts, conference chatbots for hotels centers, vacation rentals, and multi-property groups. Maestro’s Support Service provides unparalleled 24/7 North American based live support and education services. In the hospitality industry, where personalized guest experiences and operational efficiency are paramount, to say the least, the integration of Artificial Intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept but a present reality.

Data analysis

It’s seen as the ‘bright spot’ growth engine in hospitality, which puts Edmundson, promoted last year to become Marriott’s President of Luxury, squarely in the hot seat. She now oversees eight brands, including St. Regis, Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Bulgari Hotels, Edition, Luxury Collection, JW Marriott, and W Hotels. Today’s travelers are increasingly eco-conscious, and hotels that fail to meet their expectations will be left behind. AI can play a pivotal role in advancing sustainability efforts, from reducing energy consumption to minimizing waste through predictive analytics. First, you have to get from your home to the airport, then the airplane takes you to the place, then you have to get from the airport to your accommodations, then when you get to the accommodations, maybe you have dinner reservations… And to imagine that a generative AI, human-like agent will be able to deal with all these things and all its possibilities tomorrow is not real.

As we venture further into 2024, the hospitality industry is poised for a seismic shift, driven by the integration of AI. But this isn’t just about keeping up with trends; it’s about leading them. By embracing AI as a key driver of your hotel’s Blue Ocean Strategy, you position your property not just to survive but to thrive in an increasingly competitive market. The global travel recovery is uneven, with some regions still grappling with the aftermath of the pandemic. AI can streamline operations by optimizing resource allocation, predicting maintenance needs, and automating routine tasks.

So, I think it’s important to note you’re not ready to make that investment in their tech yet because you don’t think it works. But one of the things we’ll have to do is, we’ll have to continue to give more benefit to our customers so they still have a reason to book with us, and now, of course, we can match the price. If a hotel lowers the price, well, then we can lower the price, too.

Apps have already been appropriated by many companies to provide intelligent real-time customer service without the need to place a human in position. Competitors are also gearing up to use AI in their travel solutions. Vancouver-based Pilot is building an AI-focused travel planner to easily share trip ideas with friends.

The number of Asian guests also grew by 53.4 percent to 64,686. Guests from the Gulf region and other Arab countries grew by 31 percent and 38 percent respectively. United Arab Emirates-based online travel company Musafir.com has signed an agreement to promote the heritage destination of AlUla in Saudi Arabia. Having received 185,000 visitors last year, AlUla has set a target of 250,000 visitors for this year. “AlUla is ready to receive up to 250,000 visitors in 2023, the majority of which will come from neighboring nations.

In addition to the chatbot, Amadeus has upgraded its iHotelier Suite in April 2024, delivering a comprehensive set of customisable solutions to enhance the hotel tech stack experience. The Gen AI technology within Amadeus Advisor allows for instantaneous collection of detailed insights, expediting the analysis of complex data and aiding in strategic business planning. Hotel revenue managers can easily obtain information on average daily rates, room nights, and revenue pipelines, streamlining the entire process and eliminating the need for manual data searches. But if the AI is unsure, the sentence may be highlighted in orange to indicate that it knows this part of the answer might be wrong. This should help users better understand when the AI is “hallucinating” — that is, when it provides a response based on false information. This is a problem with modern AI that may confidently generate output even when it doesn’t have the supporting data.

The one other thing, though — what would be really bad for us — is if you price below the price you give to us. What’ll happen is people will use us to figure out which hotel they want, and then they’ll just click over to you and get a cheaper price. And that, in the end, we won’t then get the commission because they booked it with you, et cetera. Because [in] other countries, we’d already ChatGPT dropped that parity, we saw there wasn’t much of a change actually in the business. So, here’s the thing, while we certainly were not pleased with being called a gatekeeper in what is one of the most competitive industries in the world, the idea that we have such, as the regulators alleged, a dominant position. And I’m like, “Well, do you feel that you don’t have another way to travel?

A chain of eco-friendly hotels reported a staggering 30% reduction in energy costs after implementing AI-controlled smart building technology. This not only improved their profit margins but also enhanced their appeal to environmentally conscious travelers. To quote an example of a single brand, the business achieved an 85% reduction in billing-cycle processing time by modernizing its loyalty program through AI technologies.

Sustainability: AI as a Catalyst for Green Innovations

The next wave of hospitality innovations may very well be driven by generative AI. The innovations are also improving customer experience by, for example, enabling them to choose a room with a view or one close to an elevator, and to prepay for parking. IHG also partners with Equinix, which provides interconnects across multiple regions to move data and workloads to and from various regions across the global IHG multicloud architecture with agility and high speed. Aviatrix, another IHG partner, provides cloud networking for the company’s multicloud architecture, which includes both AWS and GCP, as well as Microsoft Azure now that IHG’s central booking partner, Amadeus, is migrating there. LG’s CLOi robots could soon take care of housekeeping, room service, baggage handling, and concierge services all at once. The healthcare industry is evolving into an increasingly digital environment, and as a result cybersecurity continues to be a top priority for protecting sensitive data such as financial records and patient medical records.

It’s all about creating a unique experience that’s tailored to each guest or family. Generative artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT are all the rage right now, with new announcements every week, especially in the hospitality industry. What we may be underestimating, though, is just how vast this evolution is in terms of rethinking what’s capable for the website experience and how these tools can drive direct bookings. In 2017, Four Seasons conducted a pilot program of the chat service in 30 hotels and found that half of its guests made use of it, averaging more than six chats during a stay. Chatbots and virtual assistants have become an essential part of the customer service world and can often help improve customer satisfaction.

Users can chat with Layla on Instagram about destinations, their temperatures, the best time to go and things to do, along with flight and hotel options. The bot also surfaces videos of different destinations from the creators (fetched from the Beautiful Destinations network) to give you an alternative view of a place. The company was started by Jeremy Jauncey, the founder of travel agency Beautiful Destinations with millions of followers across social media platforms, and Saad Saeed, who was the co-founder of grocery delivery service Flink. Turner notes that IHG is very interested in generative AI but has only just started investigating opportunities.

We’re not waiting, because we don’t know what the future holds. As the newly appointed President of Luxury at Marriott International, Edmundson reveals what’s next for the world’s largest hotel operator. Specifically that’s what I mean, a customer-facing LLM system — can it do it? I believe she’s actually the President of the United States in secret — that’s my conspiracy theory.

Well, integrating AI in the hospitality industry does come with a set of challenges. AI’s impact on the hotel industry will be transformative, driving the need for new skill sets, enhancing customer experiences, and providing opportunities for differentiation through Blue Ocean Strategies. To successfully integrate AI and address longstanding industry challenges, hotels can adopt the Blue Ocean Fair Process.

Andrew Maister, Tigerair Australia commercial director, said Toby is the latest innovation by the airline to make booking and flying Tigerair more convenient and interactive than ever before. In the future, there are plans for drones to deliver room service, too. “We feel Jeremy and Saad are the perfect team to approach and solve these two challenges.

Mezi also claims to be an online concierge that users can chat with for trip recommendations, flight information, and hotel availability. Revenue management is absolutely critical for hotels, but it’s one of the easiest processes to get wrong. AI can help ensure that you’re able to get it right while also improving efficiency and accuracy. You don’t need to look very far for evidence of this, either. AI-connected remote check-in systems can allow guests to check into their rooms remotely via a smartphone app and never need to stop at the front desk to begin with. In addition to juggling all of these tasks, employees are expected to be courteous, kind, to verify guest documents thoroughly, provide their undivided attention, and answer questions promptly.