TECHNOLOGY
Panelists at HITEC discussed how to navigate applications of AI in hospitality . From left : technology consultant and author and panel moderator Ira Vouk ; Matt Schwartz , CTO of Sage Hospitality Group ; Shane O ’ Flaherty , global director of travel , transportation & hospitality for Microsoft ; and Bryan Steele , managing director of digital at Jireh-Tek Limited . teams to review , saving hours of work . Another example he cited concerned a conference at a 600-room property , where , through Sage ’ s own ChatGPT , called Sage Chat , they were able to send out customized welcome letters by feeding it information about attendees .
“ It ’ s the eager intern ,” Schwartz said of AI . “ It ’ s awake 24 / 7 and fully caffeinated and , just like an intern , you will trust , but always verify ,” like when an intern creates a PowerPoint deck , you still check the work before presenting it .
He also pointed to a new AI application that allows hoteliers to inspect a room to make sure it ’ s properly equipped and satisfied from a standards perspective , such as ensuring the right amount of pillows are on the bed , that the room has the requisite number of water bottles and , even , that a coffee pot or kettle is facing the correct direction . “ You just hold up your phone and it will tell you if everything is in order the way it should be ,” Schwartz said . It ’ s not AI supplanting housekeeping , it only ameliorates the process .
Aside from the functional , AI will allow better and more access to data through its business intelligence application . “ How do we allow everyone [ internal ] access to all our financials , all the time ,” Schwartz said , things like knowing a property ’ s NOI in real time and if it was hitting on the top line and bottom line . “ The idea is to unlock the data ; that ’ s the power of AI .”
Will AI take over human jobs in hospitality ? Unlikely , the panelists all agreed . It will , however , remove some of their responsibilities , freeing them up to do other tasks . At the luxury level , it ’ s about choice , Steele said . “ Some people like tech ; others like to have people . It ’ s about giving choice . Where we will see more technology is in the lower-end segments .”
Years ago , the next big thing in technology were kiosks to check guests in . They didn ’ t have the best adoption rates and many hotels stopped using them altogether . Sage ’ s Schwartz called them the second stage of technology when it came to interfacing with guests , the first level a 100 % human front desk . He said that there is a third level that is machine-led and human-assisted and a fourth stage that is fully autonomous . For instance , he believes that airport shuttle drivers will at some point go away because shuttles will drive autonomously . He ’ s not sold that the front desk will ever go that way . “ If it is , we miss on the hospitality ,” he said .
20 hotelsmag . com July / August 2024