Use AI to Improve Customer Experience in the Hospitality Business Artificial Intelligence based channel managers, revenue managers, and booking engines help you control and achieve a lot of things
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
You're reading Entrepreneur Asia Pacific, an international franchise of Entrepreneur Media.
The cost of cloud computing and smart software solutions have drastically come down since the turn of the present decade. Today, for a few dollars a month, small businesses can sign up for intelligent software services and optimize their business operations and revenue in the first year itself. This is a remarkable achievement.
Because of the ubiquity of accessible solutions – which are smart and affordable– a lot many of your competitors in the hospitality industry are changing the way their businesses are conducted. I am sure that you might have heard or read about Artificial Intelligence solutions created for the hotel industry.
Are you skeptical about it? Do not worry. Let us help to understand the real value of smart solutions and how it can a) change the way you spend money to run your business;b) and how you can increase your RevPAR within a matter of a year.
Operational Optimization via Artificial Intelligence for the Hotel Industry
As a hotel owner, three aspects drive your profits:
Using your inventory and resources optimally;
- ensuring that you deliver the best experience; and
- developing long term communication with guests to be retargeted
Artificial Intelligence based channel managers, revenue managers, and booking engines help you control and achieve the aforementioned factors.
A Channel Manager's (CM) used case is to help you manage and distribute all inventories on one dashboard. A CM will also help you monitor channel performance. So, at the end of each month, you can see which channels are bringing you the best business at the best rates.
You can easily eliminate the channels which do not generate a lot of bookings. This insight is just the tip of the iceberg. You can also set a base price, and let the channel manager set all rate plans for all room types.
A Revenue Management System (RMS) will help you analyze your past performance based on your historical data. Then, you begin with forecasting demand for an entire year. Revenue managers consider factors such as market forces, which determine tourist traffic to your city and to add to that certain well-equipped RMS allows you to monitor your competitor prices on many online channels. This way, you make informed pricing decisions. An AI based RMS will change prices dynamically to match demand.This way, you won't miss out on charging more when there's great demand.
A booking engine however allows travelers to book rooms on your website directly.
Online channels demand a high percentage of commission to sell your rooms on their websites and mobile apps. By integrating a booking engine onto your website, you can generate direct bookings – thereby saving commission costs. Or, better yet, entice travelers with discounts for booking rooms directly on your website.
Why do you need direct booking on your website?
When guests visit your website, a booking engine can collect valuable guest data, such as service preferences, family size, food preferences etc. These factors help you serve your guests better and lower your cost of operations.
Artificial Intelligence-based Booking Experience shows Travelers that Hotels Care
Travelers don't mind sharing information, such as preferences, likes and dislikes, if they are convinced that the information will help them get top class hospitality/ services.
Customers know what they want, but they rarely tell that to businessestablishments. It is up to each hotel to invest in their guests' interests and show that you care.
Imagine if you motivate a guest to fill a service preference form while booking their room on your website. And you learn that the guest is allergic to artificial room fresheners. You get a chance to put a natural room freshener in the room and put a welcome note in the room wishing them a safe stay and good health.Your guest won't hesitate for a moment to write a glowing review about your service on Facebook or Instagram with the photo of your welcome message card. This is the power of customer data.
The moment travelers experience personalized services, they would expect the same everywhere and want to go back to such hotel brands in the future.
Travelers generate a lot of data. Analyzing large data sets and allows meaningful insights and producing quality services is what will determine if you will survive in this dynamic, innovative industry.
