It’s hard to
miss the increasing footprint artificial intelligence has in our everyday
lives. This point is best illustrated by the remarkable popularity of
intelligent “smart” home speakers. According to U.K.-based Strategic Analytics,
consumers worldwide purchased an estimated 24 million smart speakers in 2017,
nearly half in the fourth quarter alone. eMarketer reports that 35.6 million
Americans used a voice-activated-assistant device at least once a month last
year, an 129 percent increase over 2016.
As we
consider the impact on business travel, look at how consumers use AI. Amazon
shared that people asked Alexa for cooking-related advice more than nine times
as often last year as in 2016; Alexa also helped mix “tens of thousands” of
drinks. People increasingly look to AI for instant, convenient expertise to
solve the challenges in front of them. And with Alexa possessing more than
20,000 skills and growing in the U.S. alone … people expect instantaneous
solutions to personalized issues.
Corporate
Hotel Bookings in the AI Age
In times of
maximum hotel program complexity, only those who make it easy will attract
repeat business. Convenience is the new basis for customer loyalty, whether
that’s at the time of booking, on the day of arrival, during the stay or at
departure.
Personalizing
corporate hotel bookings will require continuous cataloging and tracking of
traveler behavior. How does the traveler search? Which detailed pages does he
or she look at? Does the user check the map view? Is location thus a deciding
factor? All of this will be analyzed to draw conclusions, and not just for the
booker in question. The technology will make precise suggestions even to new
employees or those that hardly travel. Booking tools, leveraging similar
demographic characteristics and peer traveler behavior and mixing in select
traveler preferences, can serve up policy-compliant lodging options, including
the right hotel services.
In five
years, we likely won’t have “traditional” searches any more. With machine
learning, travelers no longer will need to set up searches. Instead, the
traveler just enters the city, date and number of rooms and will get three
hotel options, all matching the individual requirements, and that’s it. Systems
will see meetings in personal calendars, take action and generate bookings.
IBM CEO Ginni Rometty said, “AI is the opportunity
of our time; 100 percent of jobs will be augmented by AI.” AI will impact hotel
bookings in 2018, and hotel program managers will begin to see this technology
enhancing the traveler experience and supporting compliance and performance
goals.