Artificial Intelligence (AI) can sift through and dynamically draw insights from mountains of data (operational, performance, guest, pricing, comp set, BI, marketing data, etc.) to allow hoteliers automate or augment operations, processes and decision making via various hospitality tech applications in guest services and operations, revenue management, CRM, guest communications, BI, digital marketing, personalization, inventory distribution, etc.

Obviously, it is up to specialized hotel tech vendors to carry the torch and create various AI-powered applications to solve concrete business needs and help the industry overcome its technology deficiencies. In the same time, hoteliers need to monitor, proactively familiarize themselves with and invest in the AI and other next gen technologies that are quickly making their way into hospitality.

The question is, what are the top five AI-powered applications that are must-have today and can solve the most immediate issues and deficiencies in hospitality?

Simone Puorto
Simone Puorto
Founder | CEO | Futurist

I've recently finished writing a book (which should be out in a couple of months) on what I call "post-human hospitality." During the writing process, which took me over two years, I interviewed dozens of futurists and visionaries about the possible implications of AI, robotics, and automation in our industry, so the topic strongly resonates with me. 

My prediction, however, is that, at least for the next 5-10 years, AI will solely play the role of co-pilot. Hospitality is (whether we agree or not) still mainly a high-touch industry, rather than a high-tech one. And, even though COVID significantly accelerated technology adoption, generally speaking, we're still heavily rooted in the 20th century. 

So, even though I'd like to see AI-powered robot housekeepers running around every hotel, the (current) top five AI applications in hospitality are, unfortunately, not so sci-fi-oriented. 

Here's my personal list:

  1. Revenue Management, of course;
  2. Conversational Marketing/Chatbots;
  3. Advertising (especially for campaigns with many bidding options and difficult to scale by humans, such as metasearch ads);
  4. Web Design (think about companies such as The Grid or Bookmark);
  5. Communication with guests (CRMs, customer surveys, etc.).

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