TECHNOLOGY
FROM AN OPERATIONAL STANDPOINT , AI HAS THE ABILITY TO ENHANCE EXISTING TECHNOLOGIES , SUCH AS REVENUE MANAGEMENT , INSIGHT PROCESSES AND CENTRAL RESERVATION SYSTEMS
– RAY BOYLE , VP OF DATA , ANALYTICS AND INSIGHTS , HYATT HOTELS CORP .
for . Fewer full-time employees translates into lower labor costs , but less FTEs can equate into a dip in customer service . For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction , as Newton said .
Consider the interplay between revenue management and marketing . When you add AI to the equation , it can have a profound effect . Freed attested to one way : After a revenue manager makes pricing recommendations , it falls on a marketing person to develop packages and create copy around them . With AI , both of those processes can be automated . “ It ’ s a manual process that somebody doesn ’ t have to do anymore ,” Freed said . Conversely , the future of AI can allow it to make pricing decisions , potentially obviating the need for the revenue manager .
Other potential benefits include inventory management , using AI to predict demand and plan for supply , reducing waste and optimizing costs .
The administration of AI is infinite .
HUMAN V . MACHINE Most hotel executives glorify new , useful technology like AI ; simultaneously , they extoll the virtues of human touch . Can they coexist ? Hospitality isn ’ t logistics , it ’ s a service , not a product . “ We see value in AI enabling our corporate and property teams to increase efficiency and add value for our guests so that we deliver on our purpose to care for people so they can be their best ,” Boyle said . “ We know that person-toperson contact is an important aspect of our industry and something that we don ’ t see changing .”
One technology that aims to free up humans and carry out quotidian tasks is voice assistants , which can automate conversations over the phone . Most have endured one of these : a spectral voice answers the phone and forces you to either answer questions audibly or key them into your phone . This , invariably , leads to a plea to speak to a human , who then may ask the same questions the disembodied voice was trying to collect . But the tech is getting better .
PolyAI is a London-based company that describes itself as a customer-led conversational platform for enterprise , which can resolve over 50 % of calls and “ consistently deliver your best brand experience .” In other words , its voice assistant technology can automate what it calls “ superhuman customer experiences ” over the phone and in any language . “ They answer every call immediately to take the pressure off your staff and delight your customers ,” its website claims .
Its website also curates a collection of real-life examples of calls . In one , a man calls the Golden Nugget Lake Charles , Louisiana , seeking to make a two-night reservation . A voice — sounding more real than bodiless — walks the man through the booking process , even upselling him on a room with a balcony . It — though her voice is female — even employs folksy terms like “ alrighty ” and “ gimme a sec ” to push the conversation along . In a 1:45 conversation , it elicits what the guest is looking for and collects personal information , including credit card information , resulting in a made booking of $ 861.70 . It ’ s unclear whether the customer knew he was speaking to an inanimate object .
That ’ s precisely the experience PolyAI is after , said its COO , Yan Zhang . “ Voice assistants can handle frequently asked guest questions , make or amend reservations ,
SOPHISTICATED AI-POWERED VOICE ASSISTANTS CAN DETECT NUANCES IN HOW PEOPLE USE LANGUAGE
– YAN ZHANG , COO , POLYAI
26 hotelsmag . com Jan / Feb 2024