AI in Hospitality

Abstract

AI, or Artificial Intelligence, is disrupting many industries, and hotels have not escaped the opportunities and challenges that ‘AI-enhanced products’ bring. Hotels within the Jetpark Hotels group have successfully adopted robots across restaurant operations, housekeeping, and, more recently, new software within reservations and revenue management systems. Implementing these products has required careful consideration and planning to realise their benefits. Initially, there was scepticism and much research to find the right solution for the business. Employees were also concerned that adopting these products might signal that their jobs would be at risk. However, as these robots have proven their usefulness, employees have come to appreciate the time saved in their day. This, in turn, has opened opportunities for them to focus on tasks that, at this stage, only a human can do.The hospitality industry is one of the oldest ‘trades’ in the world and has always relied on people to operate in various areas of a hotel or restaurant. This labour force, however, represents one of the largest expense lines on the profit and loss statement. Therefore, finding ways to increase productivity or reduce the number of employees, is a major driver for exploring alternative solutions—enter Lilly, the restaurant robot! Lilly is a tall, rectangular column with multiple shelves designed to hold either plated meals, clean dishes, or dirty crockery and cutlery. Her main purpose is to transport these items between the kitchen and restaurant areas. On busy mornings, when the breakfast buffet serves nearly 200 people in a short time, Lilly’s assistance to staff is a real time-saver. She effectively saves staff members from making multiple trips to and from the kitchen with dirty dishes, allowing waitstaff to prepare fresh tables more quickly, and attend to guest service. The result is a reduced risk of collisions, breakages, and manual handling injuries [1]. The entire restaurant has been mapped with a digital pathway, and Lilly can be ‘called’ to a section of the restaurant using buttons positioned inconspicuously under the tables. Likewise, when a large group is dining, their order can be delivered to the table all at once, rather than through multiple trips from the waitstaff. Lilly has now been ‘employed’ by the company for over a year. She has not takenany sick days, and her statistics show a steady increase in the number of tasks, kilometres travelled, and hours in operation each day. Other employees now attest to her value, and guests enjoy the novelty of the ‘show’ as she glides through the restaurant [1]. Similarly, the housekeeping team has come to appreciate the time and back-saving benefits of their ‘vacuuming robot’. This task is now entirely handled by this vacuum cleaner, leading to savings in public area cleaning, while allowing cleaners to focus on areas that require a ‘human touch’. Additionally, the risk of injury for employees has been reduced, as highly repetitive tasks that cause wear and tear on the body have been minimised [2].In the reservations team, a new software product has been implemented to help managers optimise the sale of the hotel’s inventory. Since hotel rooms are a perishable product, it is essential to sell each room at the optimal price and rate, especially in today’s competitive market. The software continuously ‘learns’ trends in occupancy, pricing, competitor activity, group dynamics, and many other variables that can impact room sales. Reservations and revenue team members can now make faster, more profitable decisions, achieving better results for the business than ever before [3]. In summary, these technologies have become an integral part of hotel operations—tools our team would not consider parting with now that we fully understand their benefits from revenue generation, cost-savings, and staff engagement perspectives. Will there be a day when robots replace people entirely in hospitality business? Perhaps not. However, discovering further opportunities for software, technology, and AI to enhance and assist the workforce and guests is a no-brainer