Every time I read a news about these technologies making some breakthrough, it fascinates me to the highest level.

While many industries are benefiting from these technologies, I was and still am excited to see how AI and data science improve the hospitality industry?

But lately, I could see a lot of innovations happening in the hospitality sector as well. The industry is embracing these advanced technologies with an open mind.

And in this article, I will try to talk about the aspects where AI and data science in hotels are making huge breakthroughs.

“Some people worry that artificial intelligence will make us feel inferior, but then, anybody in his right mind should have an inferiority complex every time he looks at a flower.”

Alan Kay

Why are Businesses Turning to Data Science & AI?

There was a time when data science wasn’t popular. Companies didn’t understand what this tech could do.

But soon they realised that they are generating piles of data and they didn’t know what to do with it.

This is when data science stepped in. Through the years, it has made some magnificent innovations in almost every domain. And companies have witnessed all of it.

Today, every firm wants to leverage data and become smarter; they want to determine the market opportunities, where the logjams are, what improvements they need to make, and more.

Data science fulfilled every such need. And thanks to the advancements, these technologies today are used in almost every industry, helping businesses become profitable.

One of the best examples is the gaming industry.

In 1997, world champion Garry Kasparov lost to IBM’s Deep Blue in chess. It was one of the first ground-breaking moments for AI. Since then, companies are going all-out making sheer advancements.

Role of AI and Data Science in the Hospitality Industry

The hotel industry has already witnessed some breakthroughs. The industry today uses top-notch cloud-based management systems, contactless hospitality systems, IoT, and whatnot.

However, little do we know that data science and artificial intelligence are also playing a major role.

We will talk about the aspects in the next point.

But now let me give you an example to help you understand better.

One of the largest hotel chains in the world, Marriott International is a pioneer in terms of using data.

Through the years, the hotel chain is able to get many competitive advantages. And the prime reason is the way it leverages a set of thoughtful data science outputs that supports product and design decision making.

According to a report, Marriott uses data to keep a keen eye on its competitor brands and hotels. It determines all the possible revenue streams apart from selling rooms and ensures that they are satisfying both guests and people in the local community.

Marriott is a big name, and people might think that leveraging data science isn’t possible for small & mid-sized hotels. However, that’s not the case.

With the right strategy and approach, hotels can get maximum benefit with these sought after technologies irrespective of their size.

7 Areas in Hotels Where Data Science & AI Can Make an Impact

Without an inch of doubt, the use of AI and data science in the hotel industry is supremely beneficial. And in this section, I will discuss some of the core segments of a hotel that are or can be highly benefited by these techs. 

I would suggest you consider implementing each of them and see it yourself.

1. Marketing

Marketing is extremely crucial for hotels. It not only makes your establishment stand out but also ensures that you get all the business you need.

Planning and executing a campaign isn’t enough. There are a lot of activities that go behind the scenes. One of them is understanding customer needs and preferences, and acting quickly and effectively.

Many marketers struggle to determine which data sets are worth collecting for segmentation. And this is where AI and data science plays a vital role.

Systems powered by machine learning helps hotels analyse information in the context of relevant historical data which leads to better and informed decision making.

Marketers can use all the inputs from these systems and then target campaigns to the right set of audience at the right time.

2. Digital concierge

Virtual or digital concierge is a customer experience (CX) technology that provides guests with conversational and contextual assistance. It could be in the form of a robot or a mobile app or a web platform or a chatbot.

When we talk about such technologies, AI is what comes to our head. And most of the virtual concierges are powered by AI.

Not to mention, these technologies are helping hotels offer contactless services like check-in and check-out.

ConciergeBot is a great example. It is a next-generation AI-driven conversational assistant platform that provides guests with an always-on virtual assistant on their phones to support check-in, in-stay support and check-out, with no app downloads or logins necessary.

3. Revenue management

The goal of a revenue management system or a revenue manager is to optimize your room rates and availability for maximum revenue. They sell your rooms via the right channel, to the right guest at the right time.

When revenue management is powered with data, hotels can better predict demand and analyse patterns of customer behaviour more accurately. Not to mention, it reduces a lot of human efforts as it automatically consolidates and analyses piles of data from multiple sources.

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4. Reputation management

Lately, reputation management systems have gained tremendous traction in the hospitality industry. Why not? After all, they help you build a trusted brand.

And when these systems are AI-based, their capabilities increase significantly. 

Sentiment Analysis is a perfect example to describe this.

It is a natural language processing (NLP) technique that is used to determine the intention or sentiment behind a review or an opinion. It is mostly performed on textual, social data and it is highly effective in gauging people’s thoughts about your brand.

5. Operational analytics

I am sure you must have heard about job roles around data analysis or business intelligence. These are two of the indispensable aspects of a business.

Now, there’s also something called operational analytics which is a combination of both data analysis and business intelligence. There are times when hotels need to focus on their internal aspects as well. This is where operational analytics comes into the picture. 

With the help of data mining, artificial intelligence and machine learning, operational analytics measures the real-time functions of a hotel to improve efficiency and streamline everyday tasks.

6. Booking engine

Booking engines are amazing. They are easy to integrate and get you all the bookings sans any commission.

But what if there’s a booking engine that is smart and intelligent? Well, there are such booking engines available.

The AI-powered booking engines gather data every time a guest/potential guest interacts with the website or the booking engine. Most of these engines are equipped with advanced learning models to analyse the data and learn more about customer behaviour and offer the most relevant price.

That’s not all. Certain engines also create a conversation between the hotel and the guest by leveraging AI to ensure more direct sales.

7. Hiring & staff training

You must be thinking this is not possible. But trust me it is. AI and data science are now used to hire and train hotel employees. Yes, it has come this far.

There are certain AI hiring tools that work along with HR. The tools are used to add a layer of talent intelligence to the recruiting process. When there are a huge number of applications, the AI can automatically screen all of them and shortlist the best-fit candidates. Of course, this will be done based on certain algorithms.  

Now, talking about training, artificial intelligence in hotels’ staff training is showing some good advancements. AI-powered hotel staff training systems eliminate the need for classroom-based training.

Hotel staff can use a mobile app or a web app to learn about every aspect of the hotel. They can also take tests and assessments to determine how much they have learned.

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