If we reduce the goal of any hotel or hospitality brand down to a singular, core mission, it is this: Delight every guest that steps into the lobby. However, this task becomes exponentially more difficult when hotels fail to innovate and adopt new processes and technology that were built specifically with the guest journey – and evolving guest preferences – in mind.
NB: This is an article from Infor
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This has long been a criticism facing our industry; for many years, hotels favoured legacy workflows simply because it was what they knew, and a process overhaul felt daunting. But in today’s landscape, it is well understood that building and maintaining a successful hospitality brand requires leaders to keep their finger firmly on the pulse of industry trends. And right now, the most influential (guest-driven) trends are all circling the same catalyst: artificial intelligence (AI).
While this marks an important moment in time for hospitality – trading the old guard for a more predictive, personalised way of serving guests and empowering staff – it also ushers in a distinct “keeping up with the Joneses” effect. Suddenly, there is immense pressure to acquire AI solutions immediately, often causing leaders to rush into implementation before laying the proper groundwork.
Blind adoption of any solution or process offers a cautionary tale. When we are considering the implementation of AI across hospitality, it’s important to not only examine how a given tool will (practically) fit within your organisation, but to zoom out and consider whether your underlying foundation is actually ready to embrace such a fundamental shift. A rush to adopt before laying the necessary groundwork and establishing a clear strategy may leave you managing a costly distraction rather than a strategic asset.
To help take the pressure off and ensure you are building on solid ground, here are 7 non-technical things to consider before stepping into the world of AI.
1. Define the “why” before the “what”
This is, perhaps, the most important piece of advice I can give any hospitality leader. Adopting technology before you get clear on what technology your business actually needs most is akin to putting the cart before the horse.
Before looking at software, hoteliers must identify their actual pain points. Are you trying to reduce front desk lines? Optimise room pricing? Empower housekeeping? Sometimes, the most impactful AI solution is not the most “cutting-edge” one, but rather, the quietly powerful system that works in the background to solve a specific operational or guest-facing problem.
