Guiding hoteliers through AI adoption: Questions, strategies, and vision setting

The integration of AI into hotel operations is no longer a distant possibility - it's a necessity. However, navigating the journey to AI adoption can be challenging without a clear plan, with many in the industry using buzzwords that don’t always translate into meaningful results.

In collaboration with Fraunhofer IAO and the FutureHotel Innovation Network, we're launching a series of articles to provide hoteliers with a practical guide for AI implementation. We'll break down the process into four key stages, with insights from industry experts at each step. Our focus is on strategic planning and ongoing improvement, offering a roadmap that guides you from the initial assessment to full-scale AI integration.

Part of the upcoming study by FutureHotel Innovation Network on "AI Application Potential Along User Journeys and Its Business Opportunities", this series will explore the 12 essential steps hotel groups need to follow when integrating AI within their operations, with a closer look at the four most critical stages:

• Assessment & vision setting

• Education & awareness

• Successful AI implementation

• Continuous improvement

Our goal is to spark meaningful discussions and deliver actionable insights, helping hoteliers navigate the complexities of AI and unlock its full potential. Implementing AI requires moving beyond theoretical discussions and focusing on delivering tangible results.

Assessment & vision setting

Starting with assessment and vision setting, this first phase is crucial for understanding current operations, identifying where AI can add the most value, and establishing clear, measurable objectives. By focusing on areas like resource optimisation and enhancing guest experiences, and defining success criteria, hoteliers can ensure their AI initiatives are not only aligned with their strategic goals but also deliver meaningful outcomes. We strongly believe in the practical application of AI and emphasise the importance of showcasing true use cases for hoteliers, hotel groups, and apps to illustrate its benefits.

To fully embrace AI innovations, hoteliers need a technical ecosystem that supports flexible and seamless integration. An API-first platform is crucial, allowing developers and third-party apps to access all available data and implement AI solutions without any constraints, and without relying on a single software company. 

In this context, we invited industry experts to give us their esteemed viewpoint on: 

What are the most significant challenges hotels face in adopting AI technologies?

Adopting AI technologies in hotel groups presents numerous challenges, which are often intensified by the absence of a clear strategic direction or "North Star". Without a guiding principle, investments in AI can become fragmented, making it difficult to justify costs or achieve a clear return on investment. A defined North Star, such as "personalisation at scale," would help streamline resources toward targeted AI initiatives, ensuring that efforts like personalised marketing and guest experiences are aligned with broader goals.

Moreover, without a clear strategic focus, issues like data privacy, integration with legacy systems, and workforce readiness become more pronounced. A North Star helps prioritise data security, streamline integration efforts, and guide HR in recruiting the necessary AI expertise. It also reduces employee resistance by clearly communicating the benefits of AI in achieving specific objectives, such as enhancing guest interactions or automating repetitive tasks.

Customer acceptance and regulatory compliance are also better managed when AI initiatives are aligned with a well-defined strategic goal. Finally, a North Star enables more coherent scalability and ROI measurement by providing clear benchmarks and priorities, ensuring that AI adoption is both efficient and effective across the organisation.

Starting with AI in hotels might feel like a quantum leap, but it all begins with two key steps: figuring out where you stand and dreaming up where you want to go.

First, you take a good and factual look at how things are running in your hotel right now. What’s good, what’s not? Where are the bottlenecks that slow things down or the touchpoints where your guests aren’t exactly wowed as you would like them to be? This helps you target the areas where AI could make a difference, whether it's speeding up check-ins, tailoring experiences for guests, or helping you make better decisions.

Next is dreaming big: imagining how AI can fit into your guest journey. How do you want AI to help your staff? How should it make life easier and more engaging for guests? This step is about aligning the technology with your brand’s identity and long-term vision.

One more thing to care about is the quality of your data. AI feeds on data, so making sure you’ve got accurate, clean, and comprehensive data is essential. The better your data, the better your AI can deliver, leading to smarter insights and more personalised and exciting guest experiences. Don’t start with AI if you don’t get this under control.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Natural Language Processing (ChatGPT and others) aim to help humans be more productive and efficient. Today’s savvy SaaS providers, app developers, and data companies are leveraging the power of NLP to ensure users can interact with data more easily and quickly. It removes much of the “button-pushing” and changes our relationship with data.

However, AI-enhanced tools built into software are a horse of a different colour. They require a symbiotic relationship between data programs. While this is undoubtedly an exciting prospect for hotels, the number one priority is establishing the proper foundation to enable these tools to do what they do best. Without that, the old “garbage in, garbage out” adage that comes with any computer program holds true and greatly limits the value of investing in AI tools.

Certainly, having a solid foundational tech stack for data collection and gathering will provide hoteliers with a smoother transition when integrating higher-level AI capabilities. Without it, all of the “AI” features in the world will fail to meet expectations if they are reliant on bad, incomplete, or otherwise messy data. When assessing AI implementation, it is imperative to ensure software tools provide access to clean, synchronised data.

A key challenge in AI adoption for hotel groups is translating AI's potential into measurable financial outcomes. To unlock real value, it's imperative to establish a feedback loop that accurately tracks AI's impact on metrics like revenue growth and guest lifetime value (LTV). 

For instance, if AI-driven recommendations are integrated into the booking process, it's not enough to simply deploy AI models; you must also systematically capture and analyse data on how these recommendations influence guest decisions and revenue streams. This process is often hindered by siloed data sources across various departments, making it difficult to create a unified view of the customer journey. 

Overcoming these data integration challenges is essential for fully capitalising on AI’s potential to drive profitability and enhance guest experiences.