Top 5 AI use cases in hotels: Improving customer experience and efficiency

By: Aditya Sanghi, CEO and Co-Founder, Hotelogix

The hotel industry faces increasing competition and rapid changes in guest preferences, which has prompted hotels One must leverage the latest technology to differentiate. Artificial intelligence (AI), as one of the technologies of the new era, is gradually being applied to the hotel industry. Like other technology solutions, artificial intelligence can help improve a hotel’s customer experience and operational efficiency. Through AI, hotels can better understand guests' needs, provide personalized services, and optimize operational processes. The introduction of AI technology will bring more development opportunities to hotels, help them adapt to the changing market environment and improve their competitiveness.

Here are the top five AI use cases that will redefine the future of the hospitality industry in 2024 and beyond.

Chatbot

They provide round-the-clock support, such as providing guests with clear answers to specific questions about availability, facilities, nearby attractions, booking policies, and more in multiple languages. They can even guide guests to book/cancel/modify reservations according to their needs. We will see hotels adopting AI chatbots to provide guests with fast and smooth responses, enhancing their experience from the first interaction.

GUEST ENGAGEMENT

For guests, the experience starts before they even check into the hotel, and this is where artificial intelligence will play an important role. It will help hotels send customized emails about upcoming local events or anything worth trying by analyzing guest behavior, past stays, spending patterns, likes and dislikes, and more.

In this way, hotels can ask guests to pay in advance and confirm their reservations by offering attractive discounts or offers.

Hotels can use artificial intelligence to interact with guests and collect feedback to understand their stay experience. After a guest checks out, the hotel can send a survey using artificial intelligence to ask the guest what they thought of their stay. This approach helps hotels analyze guest feedback and identify areas for improvement. By collecting guest feedback through artificial intelligence, hotels can more effectively understand guest needs and preferences, thereby improving service quality and enhancing customer satisfaction.

In addition, hotels can also use artificial intelligence technology to thank guests by sending personalized emails and provide them with suggestions for future stays. This customized interaction not only helps strengthen guest loyalty, but also increases the likelihood that guests will book again.

Itinerary suggestions

Hotels can use artificial intelligence technology to provide customized itinerary suggestions based on guests' preferences. By analyzing information such as a guest's profile, travel history, feedback, and social media interactions, AI can recommend activities relevant to the guest's interests to make their travel experience more enjoyable.

It not only improves the guest experience, but also increases the hotel's revenue. By providing personalized recommendations, hotels can upsell guests on activities and experiences they might not otherwise consider.

GUEST REVIEW MANAGEMENT

Having top-notch online reviews and ratings is crucial for hotels as they heavily influence guests’ booking decisions. Artificial intelligence can automatically respond to customers’ positive and negative reviews in a personalized way. It analyzes all guest reviews to identify the most common issues mentioned by guests and helps hotels understand guest sentiment. With these insights, hotels can take corrective measures to improve their services. Ultimately, this all leads to happier guests and improved online ratings.

Marketing

In the next few years, artificial intelligence will be increasingly used in the hotel marketing field. From customer segmentation to creating emails to running campaigns against potential customers, AI can do almost everything in less time.

Such marketing campaigns help hotels build closer connections with their target audiences, thereby increasing conversion rates. The best part is, it’s a great way to drive incremental direct bookings.

In addition to improving the customer experience, AI can analyze past data patterns to identify potential operational challenges, making it an important part of a hotel’s daily business operations. However, the industry must also prepare its workforce to adapt to these new technologies and practices.