Webinar recording: Decrypting Data & AI in Hotels, Tuesday 24th September 2024
On 24th September, more than 150 delegates gathered online to hear industry experts discuss the issues arising from Decrypting Data and AI in Hotels, in the latest webinar of our co-hosted series with HVS, AlixPartners and EP Business in Hospitality.
Key findings highlighted that companies now possess three times more data than in 2019 but that, in a poll of the audience, almost half reported that their companies have not yet started AI implementation.
Olivier Abtan, Managing Director of AlixPartners (Paris), in the first of two presentations, laid out the potential represented by AI over the next few years, emphasising its implementation in marketing, sales, operations and guest experience. He went on to provide examples of AI applications, such as personalised marketing campaigns, optimised pricing, efficient housekeeping and AI-powered virtual concierges, while emphasising the need for a gradual evolution in use to maintain the human touch, which is the keystone of hospitality.
Heather Catchpole, Associate at Bird & Bird (London), outlined the legal framework and risks already in place in the UK and Europe, particularly GDPR and ePrivacy, while providing practical tips for conducting risk assessments and ensuring compliance with data protection laws.
A panel of experts then addressed key questions regarding workforce management, guest experience, and the need for regulatory compliance – which the moderator, Russell Kett, Chairman of HVS (London), revealed had been generated with the help of AI!
Joanna Kurowska, Managing Director of UK and Ireland at IHG, agreed that AI was part of the future of hospitality: "We are going to be delivering service to people around the world in a different way - the ability to actually attach this technology to an existing system, is going to be the next chapter of hospitality."
Philipp Rohweder, Director of Real Estate at NUMA, added, “I think the key focus has to be on making it so efficient, so seamless, almost invisible so that guests don't need to see or feel it's there. But it just works."
Ina Plunien, Vice President at Cedar Capital Partners, highlighted the positive impact of AI on employment: "I think it's just important to realise that when we talk about legislation, it's not just GDPR and Privacy laws. If housekeeping platforms are better able to track things like overtime and split shifts, these will actually enable monitoring and enforcing and help ensure that regulations are being followed.”
Neil Kirk, CEO of London & Regional Hotels, emphasised the need to maintain the human touch. "I wouldn't see it as the one thing that's going to drive our business. Hotels, fundamentally, are a people business and a service business, and we can't lose sight of that with AI, which should facilitate what the key deliverable is, which is to provide a personable service when people stay in our hotels.”
David Campbell, chairman of Rare Restaurants, agreed, “I'm passionate about hospitality, and that's all about people - but AI is totally complementary to that, and it allows people to do their job more easily."
We look forward to you joining our next webinar, our 22nd, later this year.
