While artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming industries, the hotel industry has struggled to adopt it despite its rapid growth.
In a recent interview with hospitality expert Paula Carreirao, Cloudbed CEO Adam Harris explored this disconnect, highlighting both the opportunities and obstacles to adopting AI in the hospitality industry.
Harris acknowledged that confusion around AI’s complexity, hype and potential risks is hindering its adoption in hotels.
While there have been some advancements in travel planning (e.g. AI-powered itineraries), the hospitality industry itself has yet to make significant progress.
“Hoteliers are wondering whether this is as good as people say it is,” Harris said, but he believes collaboration between hoteliers and platforms like Cloudbeds can help bridge the gap.
Cloudbeds has been using ML for the past decade in areas such as delivery, application scalability and behind-the-scenes technology, and is now applying its learnings to solutions such as advertising, online positioning and reputation management.
Despite the industry’s size, it has “been slow to adopt technology,” which is especially concerning given that hotel nights are predicted to soar by 2030, he said.
“Every hotel is a work of art. The owners are artists, they have a style and a concept and they need to provide services that fit that.
“Hotels need to build their systems around this, and AI can help. The challenge is to balance the unique characteristics of the hotel with efficient service.”
“AI can help strike this balance, but it requires a willingness to cede some control to the ‘robots’ – and that can be scary.”
“To properly leverage AI and data, you need to have all the information that’s happening in one source. That’s where AI comes in.”
“However, before tackling complex AI solutions, the industry needs to prioritize education on AI.
“With an average of 20 systems in operation in the hospitality industry, the potential for data integrity loss is huge. Data is in different places and not actionable.”
“Think about digital door locks. We can control these locks remotely using our smartphones. Yet despite being around for almost a decade, only 13% of hotels currently use this technology. Low adoption rates of basic technology make widespread use of AI seem like a distant future. I think it’s not AI that the industry is scared of, it’s change. If we’re going to be technical about AI, we need to look at the non-technical items first, or we’ll get in the way.”
By focusing on adopting foundational technologies before diving into AI, Harris advised, the hospitality industry can prepare for a future enabled by intelligent solutions.
The interview concluded with the importance of working with a technology partner that listens. He said, “If you don’t listen to your customers, you’re stuck.”
“Every year, our product and research teams spend thousands of hours talking to and listening to our customers, and we believe this is what sets us apart from the competition.
“There will be some fun stuff coming out of our camp in the near future… I won’t say any more for now but keep an eye on this space.”