Report states 25% of hospitality firms fell into the
‘AI-scaling’ category, meaning they have an AI strategy that is starting to
produce real returns.
NATIONAL REPORT – Artificial
intelligence (AI) is yielding results for hotels
as brands move from experimentation to deployment.
Early adopters report improvements in areas
including revenue, efficiency and resource management, according
to a recent report from Boston Consulting
Group (BCG). These gains come as travel companies grapple with AI
investment decisions and how best to measure ROI.
Some companies are already
reporting compelling AI returns. Hotels are seeing revenue
per available room gains up to 15% after implementing AI-powered
pricing systems that adjust prices in real time based on demand
signals such as booking pace, competitor rates and local events.
Hotels are seeing revenue per available room gains up to 15% after implementing AI-powered pricing systems that adjust prices in real time based on demand signals such as booking pace, competitor rates and local events.
In operations, predictive housekeeping models are helping
hotel operators to minimize the impact of rising labor costs.
The Ritz-Carlton San Francisco reported a 20% increase in
room-cleaning speed via an AI system that optimizes housekeeping
schedules based on checkout timing, guest preferences and staffing
levels. At the Four Seasons Peninsula Papagayo, AI waste tracking
tools in eight months yielded a 50% reduction in food waste.
While fewer than one in 10 hospitality companies
are leveraging cutting-edge AI to produce big
results, a larger share of hotels is approaching AI as a
work in progress.
“Twenty-five percent of hospitality firms fell into the
‘AI-scaling’ category, meaning they have an AI strategy that is starting to
produce real returns across multiple organization activities,” reads
BCG ’s AI-First Hotels: Faster to Build, Leaner to Operate, and
Richer in Customer Experience report.
These AI-scaling companies have prioritized using AI
across several operational areas, including marketing and revenue
management, guest engagement and property
operations. Applications range from hyper-targeted offers and dynamic
pricing to chatbots and tools
to optimize staffing, inventory and maintenance.
The report predicts the next coming phase of AI adoption
will target additional parts of the hotel value chain. Emerging applications
include systems designed to strengthen risk management and safety processes and
tools that help companies improve construction planning and capital allocation.
Scaling AI across hospitality
While early gains are emerging,
the report cited several structural challenges as barriers
to broader AI adoption.
Just 2.9% of full-time travel and tourism employees are skilled in AI, compared to 21% in technology and media.
With many AI applications still untested, hotel
companies remain hesitant to invest in the AI fundamentals that could
eventually yield the most significant gains. Competing priorities
may produce faster and more obvious results, but data cleaning and
standardization and system integration are essential.
Many hotel companies also operate with fragmented
technology systems, including separate platforms for property management,
point-of-sale transactions, customer relationship management and
loyalty programs. Hotels will need to integrate these systems and build a centralized
data platform that creates a single source of truth, according to
BCG.
Hotels also face staffing challenges, with
the tourism sector lagging behind other industries in AI
talent. Just 2.9% of full-time travel and tourism employees are
skilled in AI, compared to 21% in technology and media. However, the tourism
workforce is growing increasingly AI savvy. The share of full-time
hospitality workers with AI skills is increasing nearly 5% year
over year.
Investment in AI-forward technology and
employees will drive the next stage of AI
development and gains.
Note: This story first appeared on Phocuswire