The influence of AI in the hospitality industry

N. V Abstract The paper is an exposition of the various arguments that analysts and professionals have about the influence of artificial intelligence in the hospitality industry. The increased adoption of AI facilities has witnessed a shifting desire to create more a holistic approach to customer needs while ensuring that service delivery is not compromised. Artificial Intelligence is becoming a common feature of business operations because it saves costs, improve service delivery and ensure brand loyalty. These successes are the desirable goals for investors in the hospitality industry. S. Co. Ltd opened the first hotel run majorly by robots in Nagasaki, Japan. This sparked a trend that has been prominent in the hotel industry ever since: Adopting Artificial intelligence (AI) in the hospitality sector.

Due to the rapid growth in popularity of AI in recent years, people are starting to understand the real potential of AI, causing debates around whether one day it may be possible for machines to have the same cognitive skills as humans. Huang & Rust (2018) posited that even though AI is proficient in analytical intelligence, service requires epithetical intelligence as human interaction is involved. As a result, AI is only a threat to analytical level jobs in the industry. However, at the rate that AI is progressing, replacement of jobs requiring empathy may be possible soon. Besides, several other sources suggested that the ideal way of implementing AI is to have them perform tasks rather than jobs, implying that AI will aid human employees by completing specific tasks and not the job as a whole (Osawa et al.

Although there has previous literature on the topic, there is a gap of whether it is truly beneficial for hotels to implement AI into their operations, this will be discussed throughout the next section. Such activities create a higher accuracy and precision in decision making which bolsters profit levels in the hotels. Still, the Hen-na hotels adopted the use of robotics in service delivery with an objective of saving on labor costs which according to OTRAMS accounts for a greater percentage of the operational costs in the hospitality industry. However, according to (Majumdar. 2017), the cost of installing these artificial intelligence systems may sometimes surpass its projected benefits when compared to the situations humans are used to undertaking such activities. Still, the drive to cut down costs payable to the online travel agency is likely to reduce with the implementation of the messaging AI software that will give customers opportunities to communicate directly with their prospective hotels.

It was found that by working simultaneously with the robot, the emotional workload is decreased for the human employee. This is because guests who do not wish to face any human interaction due to personal preferences have an option not to, which gives away for concierges to avoid lousy guest interactions. However, on the other hand, it can be argued that humans prefer to interact with other humans, especially in the hospitality industry (Webster & Ivanov, 2017). However, automation of the processes in the hotel industry may pose a limited challenge to employment opportunities because the robots can undertake not all operations. According to Stanley-Williams (2018), AI robotics answer adequately to the in-person customer services and improve data analysis critical for making strategic decisions in the hotel.

Conclusion The increased adoption of AI in the hospitality industry is a necessary evil because it is not only rendering jobs obsolete but creating new job positions. As many hotels continue to see the potential in adopting AI, many of their staff are in a professional transition to ensure they are relevant in the near future. Still, the objective of the management of these hotels and restaurants by implementing is to check on costs while keeping with the changes in the technological landscape. The paper has explored that robotics are essential in bolstering service delivery, enhancing the customer experience as well as ensuring higher levels of accuracy. An integration of these aspects impacts positively on the income flows of the company as well as maintaining brand loyalty.