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How AI is making itself at home in hotels

As Siri and Alexa become members of many households’ families, hotel guests are starting to expect the same sophisticated technology available in their hotel rooms as well. And while most hoteliers are smart enough to know that smart hotels are the future, they insist that the hotel of the future will always have hospitable human interaction.

But many hoteliers are concerned about the unknown consequences of artificial intelligence. According to a white paper by SiteMinder and Ideas Revenue Solutions released in February, hoteliers fear a future where properties are run by robots even as they believe that AI is critical to guest personalization, particularly in parsing the mass of guest preference data.

“Hotels have a wealth of guest intelligence at their disposal. They have the opportunity to understand and analyze every point of the guest experience — and to make more innovative, more informed decisions — but they need information to flow seamlessly through their systems in order to make it work,” Ruairi Conroy, Siteminder’s managing director – EMEA, said in a statement announcing the white paper.

But an audience poll at an HSMAI event in April showed that only 23% of respondents thought their company had a clear definition and vision for AI. Lack of funding and lack of specific skills were also concerns.

Still, hotels are coming up with their own solutions: IHG Greater China collaborated with Baidu, a Chinese internet search provider, to offer guests Smart Room technology, powered by AI, at more than 450 rooms in six IHG properties in China (800 more rooms are scheduled to receive it soon). The Chinese-language tablet sits by the bedside and uses voice controls to play music, manage lighting and order room service.

The system is simplifying “backstage” management and can track guest satisfaction, says Lin Wang, chief marketing officer of IHG Greater China. “We are looking to improve the technology to make it even smarter and understand English in the near future,” she says.

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