The rise of AI in the hotel industry and tips for hoteliers to leverage usage

AI is revolutionising the world of hospitality. Whether hoteliers are ready or not, change is happening, and the industry must embrace it to stay ahead of the curve, keep guests happy and stay profitable.

In recent years AI chatbots have evolved to become a key component of our hospitality teams, enhancing guest experience and helping staff to deliver the best possible service. But with this evolution comes steepening guest expectations. So, how do we maximise AI whilst keeping the all-important personal touch?

The brand-new Zonal Hotel Solutions integration, HiJiffy, can answer 85% of your guests’ queries instantly, via your website, social media, or WhatsApp. Pre-stay, the Chatbot can answer FAQs, manage direct bookings and arrange upgrades and additional extras, streamlining the booking experience for guests.

For your team, HiJiffy provides notifications, assigns priority status to requests and enquiries and improves internal communications, ensuring staff are providing the best possible customer service whilst cutting operational costs.

Here are some of the ways that Chatbots such as HiJiffy can help your hotel run more smoothly.

Personalisation

Chatbots are becoming a celebrity member of staff for some hotels, such as ‘Connie’, Hilton’s robot concierge service and ‘Rose’ the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas’ customer service bot. These instantly recognisable ‘characters’ provide an ultra-personalised and sometimes comedic service for guests, bringing an element of fun to the customer service experience.

Alongside the entertainment value of AI, the technology creates the opportunity for a more personalised hotel stay with special touches and room settings. Specially designed lighting, temperature, pillows and toiletries can be added to rooms depending on guest preferences and chatbots can communicate with staff to create reminders about dietary and access requirements throughout each stay.

These personalised communications through text or WhatsApp mean that whether guests want answers to a question, to book a table or need assistance, fast and reliable service is just a click away 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Scheduling and efficiency

AI can act as your front-of-house service, with effective check-in and check-out services. This contactless service streamlines the process and eliminates busy queues and crowded foyers.

Automated checkout services alert staff when a room needs turning over, enabling slick housekeeping routines and saving staff time throughout their busy shifts.

AI communications can also analyse accurate stock data and create alerts when items are running low. Notifications to staff will help your teams to keep on top of inventory management and ordering across all areas of the hotel, ensuring customers are always well-catered throughout every step of their stay.

Free up staff time

There’s no denying that staff shortages are one of the biggest challenges facing the hospitality industry right now and AI is fast becoming a great solution. Chatbots can take on time-consuming tasks, to let your talented hospitality staff get on with doing what they do best, all while keeping costs down.

By answering questions, taking requests and organising check-in/check-out, Chatbots can give accurate, timely information to guests, giving your front-of-house staff more time to create human connections and relationships with customers, providing the service that is required to promote repeat bookings.

Post stay

Chatbots can play a vital role in collecting valuable feedback once guests have checked out. Through targeted links and personalised messages on WhatsApp, text and email, Chatbots make the process of reviews quick and easy for guests, who can provide feedback via their phones in an instant.

Chatbots such as HiJiffy centralise information, preserve history and create guest segmentation, remembering guest information and preferences with each stay at your hotel. This process creates a predictive service, helping to build customer loyalty by creating familiarity during each stay.

What’s more, guest data is stored and used within marketing decision-making to produce ultra-personalised email follow-ups, with offers, events and room rates refined for the individual based on past experiences.

Within this ever-changing technological climate, guests are growing to expect instant access to the information and services they need, putting increasing pressure on the hospitality industry to cater for this demand. By working in partnership with AI tools, and embracing the technology, hotels can boost operational efficiency, optimise their time and keep guests happy, all while bringing costs down.