The next time you interact with a hotel chain, chances are your first conversation will be with a smart chatbot – who could greet you by your first name, talk like a friend, and offer an instant deal on your next stay. This is already happening with several hotels worldwide, and we will see this soon becoming the norm in the Gulf as well. The science behind this art of new age customer service is artificial intelligence (AI) – and more precisely, conversational AI.
Personalisation is perhaps the single biggest differentiator, all other things being equal, for hotels to engage consumers. But, how can hotels get their personalisation strategy right, at scale, dealing with tens of thousands of consumers and evolving preferences?
Enter conversational AI.
Colliers International predicts that personalisation using AI could increase hotel revenues in the Middle East by over 10 percent and reduce costs by more than 15 percent.
Large global hotel and F&B chains like Marriott International, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, Domino’s and McDonald’s have started using AI in many ways. In the recent past, there has been an uptick in hotels using conversational AI, especially in the form of chatbot messaging, AI-powered customer service, and data analytics, taking personalised customer experience to new levels.
Here are four quick ways hoteliers can use Conversational AI to delight customers and expand growth:
Enhance customer experience: A unique challenge in the hospitality industry is dealing with a disproportionately large number of customers that speak different languages and come from different places and cultures. Personalising and catering to all requests is incredibly challenging, with enormous room for miscommunication and misunderstanding. As a result, consumer requests and responses often end up getting lost in translation. Conversational AI helps understand your customers, their asks, and preferences better in the language of their choice. According to HubSpot, 33 percent of customers said they don’t want to repeat information they’ve already shared. Integrating a layer of AI on top of your existing chatbot interface will help accelerate your response rate, thus benefitting your customer support team.
Automate routine activities: Extreme demand volatility, which can vary significantly between peak and idle months, is another challenge. Preferred vacation schedules tend to be the same everywhere, people tend to check in and check out at regular times, and everyone has meals at the same time. This makes it virtually impossible for staff to cater to every customer’s requirements on a one-on-one basis. This is where intelligent chatbots can help businesses handle millions of customer queries instantly. Chatbots can automate activities like concierge, room service, check-in, check-out, order taking, appointment scheduling, payments and more – saving time and resources, while eliminating human errors.
This also helps increase efficiency as your employees can be freed from repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on higher value activities that directly contribute to your top and bottom lines.
Improve operations efficiency: Chatbots are great not only for customer-facing activities but also to manage back-end activities. Conversational AI-powered chatbots help coordinate, say, housekeeping and cleaning staff, efficiently in the same way Uber coordinates with drivers. These chatbots help you with the much-needed agility to respond instantly to dynamic events.
Deliver omnichannel support: A Harvard Business Review survey found that 73 percent of consumers prefer to go through multiple channels when shopping. The same applies to hotels and F&B customers. An average guest today reaches out to at least four different touchpoints before finalising their hotel stay. Therefore, it is crucial for businesses to have a uniform presence and deliver the same kind of experience across multiple channels, from their website to messaging channels.
Marriott International, for example, uses multiple chatbots across various platforms such as Meta Messenger, Slack, WeChat, and Google Assistant, catering to guests at any time of the day. Marriot’s Aloft Hotels brand has gone the extra mile by incorporating ChatBotlr, a robotic butler, to assist guests. It enables guests to request services straight from their smartphones via text messaging.
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Why smart chatbots are the new growth hack for hotels in the Gulf
Businesses in the hospitality industry that care about customer satisfaction can no longer afford to ignore conversational AI solutions anymore. Advancements in AI will result in more intelligent chatbots and innovative, customer-centric applications in the coming days. We already see most leading hotel chains in the Gulf doubling down on conversational AI solutions to drive growth. They are turning to conversational engagement platforms to boost conversions, enhance personalisation and raise customer satisfaction and loyalty levels. And consumers are rewarding them with repeat stays, referrals and more. The future of hospitality is conversational.
