Technology and hospitality: a contradiction or logical?

I first noticed that AI could play a role in the hospitality industry in 2018. Just the thought of it almost made me choke on my sip of beer. I was outraged. How could anyone argue that AI or a technological solution could take over something as human as hospitality, work that revolves around personal interaction? This thought seemed to stem mainly from fear of the unknown. And as often happens when fear takes over, it leads to stagnation and ultimately decline.

Let’s go back to 2017. Costs were rising, EBITDA was not meeting expectations, and there seemed to be no clear solution in sight, which led to panic. We finally decided to investigate whether we could reduce the flow of emails to our reservations department. After all, no one goes into hospitality to retype emails into a system. By saving time on these administrative tasks, we were able to focus more on real human contact.

In this case, technology came in handy.

However, going from planning to acting is never easy, especially if you want to develop an AI solution that doesn’t yet exist. We started without the right knowledge, a limited budget and too little time. Yet we saw this development as a competitive advantage. We hadn’t yet figured out that it’s better to collaborate on technology rather than trying on our own.

Our efforts produced Michiel, our AI reservations employee. We were proud, but soon noticed that, like actual employees, AI requires ongoing development and attention. In addition, we neglected the soft side of implementation: how would this affect our colleagues?

Persistence wins, they say. Michiel evolved from ‘Please ask M’ into ‘Thynk Direct’, an application that retains the original idea but is less extensive. Patience is a virtue, it turns out. What could we have done differently? More knowledge, budget and time would have been essential, but above all, we shouldn’t have tackled this project alone. When it comes to technology, collaborating and learning from each other is key.

If we want to progress as an industry, we have to look outside our bubble. That’s when technology can make a valuable contribution!