AI in hotels describes the use of artificial intelligence technology in the hotel industry. This technology is increasingly used to automate processes, analyze vast amounts of data, and deliver next-level personalization. Modern AI technology has become a significant benefit for the industry as it deals with challenges like labor shortages and rising costs. AI can also be used to reduce human error, which can enhance your hotel’s reputation.

In this article, you can take a deep dive into the growing role of artificial intelligence technology for hotels, explore its various uses, and discover how to overcome some of the challenges of implementing AI.

Table of Contents:

What Does AI Mean for Hotels?

Artificial intelligence for hotels describes a variety of AI technology solutions used to automate hotel decision-making and processes. This includes natural language processing, machine learning, and predictive analytics.

According to H2C research, 78% of hotel chains are already using AI, and 89% plan to expand AI usage soon. Hotel chatbots are the most common use case, while customer data management is the biggest planned future use case.

The technology is also widely used to analyze vast quantities of hotel data and to personalize guest services. AI in hotels is also deployed to automate key tasks within property management and revenue management software. This can include making automatic room rate adjustments or alerting housekeeping teams to rooms that need to be cleaned.

Why is AI Important for Hotels Right Now?

AI in hotels has grown in importance in response to some of the key challenges the industry currently faces. These include staff shortages, higher operating costs, and rising guest expectations, especially around personalization.

Hotel artificial intelligence can be used to automate repetitive or predictable tasks and do this on a 24/7 basis. This makes it especially valuable at a time when many hotels face pressure around staff numbers and salaries.

According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, 65% of surveyed hotels report staff shortages, and overall hotel employment is down 10% from pre-pandemic levels. AI solutions provide a means for hotels to respond to customer questions automatically, identify priority tasks, and extract meaningful insights from data.

Beyond this, hotels can leverage the technology to make strategic decisions at the best possible moment. For example, AI can analyze data and identify the ideal room rate, based on demand, competitor prices, and local events.

Video: Is This the World’s First AI-Powered Hotel?

How AI is Changing Different Sectors in the Hotel Industry

Investing in AI in hotels has the potential to transform businesses, but the effects differ depending on the sector. Below, you can explore the ways artificial intelligence is changing key sectors of the hotel industry:

  • Luxury and Full-Service Hotels: AI is making it easier to understand guest preferences and optimize prices. Staff can receive timely alerts to carry out key tasks, maintaining high standards without the service feeling impersonal.
  • Resorts and All-Inclusive Hotels: One of the biggest uses of AI in hotels in this sector is operational planning, making it easier to anticipate demand spikes. Predictive maintenance and energy optimization also reduce costs.
  • Budget Hotels and Hostels: Artificial intelligence assists smaller workforces by automating repetitive tasks. It also automates dynamic pricing adjustments to maximize revenue, while streamlining guest arrivals and departures.
  • Boutique Hotels and B&Bs: Small or unique properties can use AI to personalize services and generate loyalty. AI can also create marketing that attracts direct bookings and support staff by automating common tasks.
  • Extended Stay Hotels and Serviced Apartments: Long-stay properties benefit from AI’s ability to optimize uptime through predictive maintenance and by using guest preferences to personalize housekeeping.

Video: Practical, Real-world Examples of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Hotels

Examples of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Being Used in Hotels

AI in hotels can take many forms. In the following sections, you can explore some of the specific AI-powered hotel systems and operations, so you can better understand how hoteliers are benefiting from the technology:

1. AI Chatbots and Guest Messaging

AI chatbots are automated virtual assistants that can respond intelligently to customer questions, queries, and complaints. Chatbots can be used on the hotel website, on messaging apps like WhatsApp, and on social media channels.

One of the biggest benefits of this kind of AI in hotels is the ability to deliver rapid responses. By automatically handling basic communications, chatbots can also free up customer service employees to work on more complex issues.

Hotel chatbots can provide standardized responses to common issues, including late arrivals, upgrade requests, or cancellations. These virtual assistants can also be trained to guide customers through booking processes.

To learn more, look at the “Reasons Why Every Hotel Needs a Hotel Chatbot” article.

2. Contactless Check-In/Check-Out and Self-Service

AI can power contactless check-ins by automatically checking new arrivals’ details against existing bookings. The process can combine mobile check-ins, scannable QR codes for instructions, and the issuing of digital keys.

Using AI for hotel check-ins can turn 10-minute waits in a queue into a check-in that lasts seconds. In fact, research shows 63% of guests now prefer a combination of digital keys and AI-powered check-ins to conventional check-ins.

This approach to AI in hotels is especially valuable for properties with a large volume of guests or with staff shortages, as it reduces workloads for the front office. As an additional benefit, over time, it can add up to far less time spent checking in and far more time spent in hotel bars or restaurants, spending money and generating revenue for the hotel.

3. Security and Identity Verification

Another potential use of AI in hotels is for verifying identities and protecting the hotel from intruders. AI has the ability to automatically verify documents and even biometric data, where permitted.

Security is critical for hotels, and guests want to know they are safe on your premises. At the same time, AI-assisted ID verification is fast and accurate, which can create a seamless experience without unnecessary delays.

A combined survey from Skift and Oracle Hospitality found that biometrics and facial recognition were among the technologies hotels were most likely to implement in the future. This has the potential to improve hotel access by removing the need for keycards to enter the hotel and can assist with wider hotel security efforts.

Video: China’s Alibaba Opens ‘Hotel of the Future’ with Automated Check-in, Biometrics, and Voice-Control

4. AI-Driven Service Orchestration

As AI technology improves, it is becoming more than a simple query and response chatbot. AI in hotels is increasingly moving into a service orchestration era, where it understands intent and drives a real response.

So, for example, the AI system may interpret a customer query or question and start to implement a solution. This might include alerting a department to a guest’s need or directing a message to a particular staff member.

AI-powered orchestration can help to provide clarity and prevent situations where tasks go unfinished because ownership is not decided. As a result, hotel teams can become more efficient, and guest experiences can be improved.

Video: What Are Orchestrator Agents? AI Tools Working Smarter Together

5. Workforce Scheduling and Labor Optimization

AI in hotels can help to recognize patterns and predict when workforce demands will increase and decrease. Using this information, an AI-based system can automatically create appropriate work schedules.

Using AI in this way can reduce human error in terms of giving staff too many hours or too few hours. It can also help to prevent situations where the hotel is either understaffed or overstaffed for a particular day.

Beyond this, AI systems have the potential to assist managers in optimizing their workforce. The systems can help to identify skills gaps and highlight the most reliable staff, so they can be rewarded with extra opportunities. Furthermore, AI can replace the need for humans to perform the most repetitive and predictable tasks.

Video: BE-A | The Humanoid AI Hotel Receptionist of the Future – Solving the Hospitality Staffing Crisis

6. AI Personalization and CRM

Artificial intelligence has a key role to play in personalizing the entire guest journey. The best AI in hotels can collect customer data, help to segment customers based on shared traits, and then deliver relevant messages.

This is invaluable in the modern age, as personalization is now a major competitive differentiator. Guests want to be treated as individuals and want hotel services to adapt to meet their needs.

As AI helps to build customer profiles, it can integrate with existing hotel systems to deliver tailored services for guests. Human staff can also use the AI systems to understand guest preferences and treat them accordingly.

Stephanie Linnartz, Global Chief Commercial Officer, Marriott International, explains:

“We know that our guests expect to personalize almost everything in their lives, and their hotel experience should be no different. By teaming with best-in-class partners, we are leveraging mobile and voice-enabled technology to give our guests the ability to set up the room to best meet their needs.”

7. AI Marketing and Campaign Optimization

One of the most cost-effective uses of AI in hotels is as a tool to assist with marketing. This can include actually generating marketing content, but also optimizing the performance of marketing campaigns.

In this context, AI has the capacity to greatly reduce marketing expenditure, while ensuring money is put to good use. AI can be especially useful for identifying which marketing messages resonate and which fail to do so.

A Deloitte survey of the European hotel industry found that hotels were most likely to see generative AI as a tool to enhance customer engagement. This can be achieved through the creation of marketing content and through the ability to quickly generate content that is personalized to target specific customers or market segments.

Luminita Mardale

Luminita Mardale, Director of Marketing and Business Development, Vienna House

“Artificial Intelligence is revolutionising marketing, i.e., how businesses communicate, analyse data, and personalise customer experiences. With AI, you can create content on social media platforms for your audience, you can analyse customer behaviours and segment them into more precise groups for targeted marketing. Google Ads uses AI to automatically optimise bids and ad placements for better performance. With AI, you can create 24/7 Customer Support and use chatbots.”

Click here to read more tips from our Hospitality Marketing Expert Panel.

8. Social Listening and Sentiment Analytics

AI-powered social listening involves using artificial intelligence to gather data from reviews and social media in order to determine what guests are saying about your hotel. Interpreting this data is called sentiment analytics.

In an age where a staggering 97% of guests have consulted online reviews when looking to book a stay in a hotel, understanding perceptions of your hotel is vital. AI makes it much easier to identify common sentiments.

Managing online reviews manually can be difficult, as your hotel can be referenced across a variety of platforms. AI makes it easier to extract the most important insights and see the big picture when it comes to guest sentiment. A hotel can then use this information to make improvements to the most critical areas.

9. AI Upselling and Ancillary Revenue

One of the most exciting uses of AI in hotels is as an upselling tool or a means of earning additional revenue. AI systems can be trained to identify the ideal time to promote an upgrade or an extra service.

Ancillary revenue is increasingly important for hotels, as it can increase profit margins and maximize revenue per guest. Offering ancillary services also helps hotels to stand out from rivals and meet guest expectations.

Over time, AI can identify the types of guests that are most likely to upgrade or make extra purchases, as well as the times they are most likely to do so, and the types of messages that people respond positively to.

Video: How AI is Helping Hotels to Upsell

10. Housekeeping Coordination and Prioritization

Hotels are now using AI to assist with the coordination of housekeeping teams. Here, AI can learn from guest arrival and departure times, booking data, and workforce schedules to identify the best time to work on a particular job.

AI in hotels and their housekeeping departments can be especially valuable for prioritization. This is essential, as guests want to arrive and have a room ready for them, rather than facing unnecessary waiting times.

Housekeeping departments have a lot of responsibilities and often need to work to strict schedules. AI systems can help to keep the team on the same page and working towards the right goals at the right time.

If you want to learn more about housekeeping, read “Housekeeping Technology: The Latest Tech Used in Hotel Housekeeping.”

11. Predictive Maintenance and AI Asset Monitoring

Modern hotels have assets that require continuous monitoring, including heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, computers, and in-room entertainment. AI can monitor the systems and anticipate upcoming issues.

This enables predictive maintenance, where your hotel is able to anticipate problems before they occur. As a result, you can avoid unnecessary downtime or disruption to guests’ stays, while saving on maintenance costs.

The Internet of Things (IoT) and AI technology have made continuous monitoring of assets much easier, as the current status of many devices can be continuously transmitted. Software with AI features can then automatically respond if and when the status indicators change, alerting maintenance staff so that swift action can be taken.

12. Robotics for Cleaning and Deliveries

A growing number of hoteliers are investing in AI-powered robots for cleaning and deliveries. Robots are able to automatically detect obstacles and find the best path to automate what may otherwise be physically demanding tasks.

Robotics technology is best deployed in situations where tasks are specific and predictable. This makes robotic solutions especially beneficial for vacuum cleaning public areas or delivering laundry to rooms.

Robotics-based AI in hotels is a growing area, especially in larger hotels, where vacuum cleaning and moving items from one side of the hotel to the other can be especially time-consuming. According to the International Federation of Robotics, approximately 70% of professional cleaning robots purchased are primarily used for floor cleaning.

If you want to learn more about the use of robots in the hotel industry, read “Hotel Robots: An Overview of Different Robots Used in Hotels.”

Video: Robots Take Over Luggage Duties at Sheraton Los Angeles San Gabriel [Aethon TUG]

13. AI for Hotel Food and Beverages Departments

AI for hotel food and beverage departments can draw from existing bookings and past data to accurately forecast demand levels. The systems can also use this information to automatically order ingredients at the ideal time.

Automated ordering for food and beverage departments is valuable because it prevents situations where items have to be temporarily taken off the menu. Optimized order times can also minimize food waste.

AI can also be deployed to take guests’ orders. This can take the form of QR codes, which can be scanned using a mobile phone, with guests then placing their order on their smartphone. Not only can this reduce workloads on F&B staff, but it can also speed up the ordering process for guests, and AI can intelligently upsell and cross-sell too.

14. AI Forecasting and Revenue Management

The latest AI in hotels can be deployed to assist with revenue management, accurately forecasting future demand based on existing data. This can include past bookings, existing bookings, local events, and competitor demand.

Revenue management AI solutions for hotels are important because they can automatically calculate the ideal room rate for each channel. Better still, the AI systems can implement price changes automatically.

Price adjustments can take place on a 24/7 basis, responding quickly to changes in circumstances. By optimizing room rates and other pricing in this way, hotels can maximize revenue and profit and avoid unnecessary vacancies.

To learn more about forecasting, read “Forecasting Tips to Improve Your Revenue Management Strategy.”

Common Challenges with AI in Hotels and How to Avoid Them

In addition to the many benefits associated with AI in hotels, there are also some challenges to contend with. Here, you can explore common challenges and how to overcome or avoid them:

  • Data Quality Issues: Many examples of AI technology for hotels will only be as strong as the underlying data. Try to standardize customer data, avoid duplicate data, and ensure AI is always accessing up-to-date information.
  • Integration Limitations: AI in hotels works best when combined with modern, API-based software. Some hotels may run into difficulties if they are using older systems, so you may need to invest in software upgrades.
  • Employee Resistance: Some workers may feel threatened by the use of AI in hotels and resist using it. Other employees may find it difficult to get to grips with it initially, which means training is required.
  • Privacy Concerns: Your guests may have concerns about privacy and data collection. Make sure you have clear data protection policies, adhere to regulations, use a consent-based system, and limit access to those who need it.
  • High Upfront Costs: The cost of implementing AI technology and training staff can add up quickly. It is generally best to implement AI in hotels gradually, making sure each system is working well before adding the next.
  • Risk of Model Drift: AI-based decision-making is prone to drift if circumstances change suddenly. Make sure you’re regularly checking for errors and retraining AI systems if your compset or demand changes significantly.

Video: AI Technology Is Revolutionizing Hotels And Hospitality

Where Will AI Take the Hotel Industry Over the Next Decade?

The majority of hotels are already making use of AI technology, even if they do not necessarily refer to it that way. However, its usage is only going to increase, especially as it becomes more reliable and accurate.

As AI becomes ubiquitous, one of the biggest changes is going to be a shift from largely independent AI systems towards fully integrated AI agents. These agents will use cross-departmental solutions to complete tasks.

This will enable AI to act even more independently, potentially making decisions and seeing them through from beginning to end, all the while looking out for the best interests of the hotel. Of course, human oversight will always be built into workflows, and there will always be situations where AI passes tasks on to a human.

Over the next decade, we can expect AI to move beyond more simple questions and answers, towards a model where AI is able to read between the lines, understand guest intent, and make decisions that help guests to achieve their goals.

It is also important to understand that human interactions will remain a core part of hospitality experiences, and while guests want self-service options and the efficiency of AI, they also want meaningful interactions with people. The most successful hotels will be the ones that use AI-driven hotel operations to assist human workers and free up more time for staff to focus on the tasks that really require human ingenuity and nuanced thinking.

How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Travel Industry

Aside from the role of AI in hotels, the technology is having a transformative impact on the wider travel industry. The specific uses for AI vary from helping to manage travel disruption and automating customer service tasks, through to using facial recognition as a security tool or detecting and preventing payment fraud.

In the “How Artificial Intelligence is Changing the Travel Industry” article, you can explore a huge range of specific use cases for AI in the travel sector and discover what the outlook is like for the next 10 years.

How to Use Artificial Intelligence in the Hospitality Industry

Artificial intelligence is also changing the way hospitality brands carry out business operations and provide for guests. This can include everything from smart product placements, with AI-powered recommendations based on where a guest is physically located, to the use of AI-powered chatbots for translation services.

In the “How to Use Artificial Intelligence in the Hospitality Industry” article, you can dive deeper into the many uses for AI technology and learn how you might deploy these solutions in your own hospitality business.

AI in hotels is transforming the industry, helping hoteliers to deal with challenges like customer demand for personalization, rising operating costs, and staff shortages. AI has the ability to automate many tasks, analyze vast quantities of data, extract valuable insights, and assist with decision-making.

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