In Expanding Its Guest Chat Services, Four Seasons Takes a Hybrid Approach to Technology

I believe she’s actually the President of the United States in secret — that’s my conspiracy theory. In the United States, the experience of buying Taylor Swift ticket was basically horrible. We did an entire episode on the antitrust law changes in the ’80s that led to Ticketmaster, that led to literally congressional hearings about Taylor Swift and Ticketmaster. I’m just saying that in terms of, hey, look, at the end of the day, we do need lawyers, and we do need rules, and our society is better off because we actually live by the rule of law. Those societies are better, and I’m in favor of that.

With guest expectations rising, hotels that do not integrate AI into their operations may struggle to compete with properties that have already adopted these technologies. Conversational AI becomes even more critical during high-demand situations and crises, such as weather delays, travel disruptions, or sudden emergencies. These events often overwhelm hotel staff as they manage a flood of guest inquiries about everything from cancellations to room availability. In such cases, conversational AI can alleviate the pressure by handling many of these interactions. Bebot is currently available in English and Chinese at over 20 hotels and businesses across Japan, such as Holiday Inn and Times Mobility Networks Co., Ltd.

Pandemic accelerated use of AI in hotels

The company was started by Jeremy Jauncey, the founder of travel agency Beautiful Destinations with millions of followers across social media platforms, and Saad Saeed, who was the co-founder of grocery delivery service Flink. Marriott’s Renaissance Hotels brand plans to expand its RENAI concierge service more widely in 2024, the company said, including to more than 20 properties globally by March. RENAI was created based on the understanding that Renaissance hotel bot Hotel guests are “interested in emerging tech that is clever and has personality,” Marriott said in the announcement. Once the transaction has been settled, automated robots will guide the guests to their rooms, instead of porters. These machines are somewhat similar to Dunkin’s robot servers called Number 1 launched a few years back. In a video posted by Hotel Sogo on YouTube, the company showcased new services powered by AI technology.

So, I know there are going to be some soft times, there are going to be some great times. Like when we came out of the pandemic, there was that revenge travel surge, which is fantastic. But the truth is, I know that that couldn’t possibly last because in the end, we’re going to end up in a long-term run where travel goes slightly better than GDP.

Hotel Chatbot: Bebot Introduced Across an Emerging Hotel Brand in Japan

It comes to an immediate stop when its sensors detect a moving object within a 5-meter radius, which mitigates the risk of knocking into unsuspecting guests. The sensors also detect when the door is opened, at which point its hatch slides open to reveal the bottle, towel or other contents of the storage compartment the guest had ordered. While Aura was originally used to deliver amenities to guest rooms, M Hotel Singapore this summer deployed the robot to also patrol the property twice a day while taking live surveillance footage. Is the presence of two concierge robots a big enough selling point for a certain traveler demographic to increase hotel occupancy and drive actual revenue growth? Chicago’s Hotel EMC2, a 195-room upscale boutique hotel that is part of The Autograph Collection, seems to think so, if its latest marketing promotion is any indication.

Members of the group chat can tag Romie in a message to get suggestions based on their conversation. The technology can also summarize the conversation into a user’s Expedia shopping experience. We’re nowhere near that, which is unfortunate because we do need it badly. I mean, look at what just happened the last couple of days, where things go down, people are upset, and customer service numbers go off the charts. Then you have to try and figure out, “Okay, how are we going to fix this?

People generally seem to be getting a kick out of the robotic butlers.

And I certainly can tell you that — I’ll give you a lot of examples in Europe, where, unfortunately, this goes back to politics, where the protection of certain vested interests are much worse in Europe than they are in the US. So, it depends on which industry, which thing you want to talk about. But you and I, we’re on the same page, though, that we want to create an environment, an economic system, that provides the best value to the society, and one of the ways to do that is to make sure there is fair competition. I have friends who have flown to Europe, and it’s cheaper to buy a ticket to a Taylor Swift show and a flight and a hotel than it was in the markets that we have here in the United States. Do you see that regulatory difference as being better? Because the market for all of those things is more regulated, more constrained, and it seems like everyone’s happier.

Robots like Rosie by Tailos, thousands of which have already been deployed at various hotels, clean guest rooms 20 percent faster and public areas up to 80 percent faster than human housekeepers. Robot waiters by Keenon Robotics and Bear Robotics are already deployed in over 25,000 restaurants worldwide and replace 100% of the waitstaff. Using Four Seasons Chat, guests can send and receive instant messages with property teams before, throughout and after their stay via nine different communications channels. In addition to WhatsApp, guests can use the Four Seasons App, Facebook Messenger, WeChat, Kakao Talk, LINE, Apple Business Chat and SMS, with Web chat on fourseasons.com in pilot phase, with roll-out across the portfolio planned for early next year. As the most discerning, up-to-the-minute voice in all things travel, Condé Nast Traveler is the global citizen’s bible and muse, offering both inspiration and vital intel. We understand that time is the greatest luxury, which is why Condé Nast Traveler mines its network of experts and influencers so that you never waste a meal, a drink, or a hotel stay wherever you are in the world.

When a guest calls, and Annette answers, she understands no matter what language they speak. Annette has been programmed with a new model of Natural Language Understanding software based on human conversations, resulting in a powerful new way for her to understand what guests are requesting, and for her to provide the correct answer. It’s important, too, to remember that the hospitality industry is a global industry. Hotel staff are likely to encounter dozens of languages monthly.

Marriott’s Renaissance Hotels debuts AI-powered ‘virtual concierge’

These include automated rapid-check-in kiosks, Quantum RFID BLE enabled electronic door locks and room service delivery robot. With cartoonish controls and intuitive touch-screen prompts, the robot travels quietly between the kitchen and guest rooms (a phone call or text message signals the robot’s arrival at a guest’s door) and back again once its cargo has been unloaded. ReviewPro has built a native chatbot solution which will help hotels react immediately to incoming guest messaging inquiries and provide automated outbound communication. A veteran in the hospitality industry, John has owned, developed, and managed hotels for many years. After earning a BBA from New Mexico State University, he started his career with AT&T, gaining invaluable insight and experience in the early years of the data revolution. His experience in technology and hospitality merged in his development of Travel Outlook, the world-class hospitality contact center.

Together, the joint Routier + Zonetail solution is providing a compelling business model and digital safety net for recovering properties in the wake of COVID-19. Routier’s AI Bot answers guests’ requests or directs them to the relevant department to have a staff member resolve an issue in person. Property teams ChatGPT can utilize Routier’s workflow to manage and track all guest and staff processes and communicate in 65 languages automatically. Zonetail is a mobile platform that connects guests to hotel amenities and services, as well as local businesses, such as restaurants, shops, attractions and other specialty services.

Any experienced concierge will tell you that it pays dividends to anticipate guests’ needs before they may even be aware of them. N Bot makes in-room deliveries at guests’ voice command or via touch screen orders. Linked to an AI speaker, N Bot is capable of seamless service to local and foreign guests, from order to delivery. Currently, user interface is available in Korean, English and Chinese. KT Corp., South Korea’s largest telecommunications company, collaborated with Hyundai Robotics to upgrade the design and function of the second-generation AI-powered robot, which made its hotel debut last April 30.

The idea that I have a problem when I travel, and I can just speak in natural language to an assistant that will help me solve that problem, is very powerful. So, let me just ask the first foundational question. Do you think the AI systems we have today can actually do the things we want them to do? Because that seems like the most open question of all. Look, it all comes down to the individual cases, and what we don’t want to do is enable monopolies to continue to entrench their monopoly power. And very, very, very few companies ever become of a type that can become an IPO.

Okay.” Well, in some countries, we didn’t have that. Because [in] other countries, we’d already dropped that parity, we saw there wasn’t much of a change actually in the business. Look, everybody wants to be able to make sure ChatGPT App that their customers come to them, and they don’t want it to pay for how they’re going to get there. But the nature of competition is such that if somebody doesn’t put money into Google, they’re going to lose out on business.

And it’s thinking these things through and dealing with lawyers and people who are [in the] public affairs field. We never had a public affairs department until relatively recently, and our legal department’s expanded a great deal. Part of the problem, though, is that we prefer to spend that money on hiring engineers and create better services.

OneAir: AI travel app helps you save on airfare, rental cars and more

While many hotels strive to have bilingual and multilingual workers on staff, it can be difficult to communicate across language barriers for most hotel employees. When your staff doesn’t speak the same language as your guests, it is hard to anticipate their needs. “Having spent so much time over the last 10 years really deeply embedded in social media and the creator economy, we felt travel discovery needs something fresh. We saw that, post-pandemic, many users based their travel decisions on what they saw on Instagram and TikTok and harness that,” he said. Jauncey told TechCrunch over a call that the company wanted to bring a new solution to the travel industry based on their experience on social networks and building tech products.

On the other hand, though, as I mentioned earlier, about driving things down to the lowest levels of the organization, letting people just run hard with what they are doing, it gives it, I think, a benefit overall. But we are seeing people are beginning to pick up this idea of doing attractions and doing “what to do there,” and it is something that we are growing. We just started that a couple of years ago, so it’s relatively early, but it’s definitely something that when I am deciding… And of course, everyone who comes onto Decoder this year wants to talk about AI, and Glenn is definitely bullish on AI over the long term, especially for customer service. That moment where you call customer service explicitly because you want to talk to a real person? Glenn thinks you might not need that as badly as you think, in part, because the AI won’t care if you swear at it.

This is so users can answer the question “What are you hoping to find? Among these are Long Term Relationship, Life Partner, Fun, Casual Dates, Intimacy without commitment, Ethical non-monogamy, and Marriage. Specifically that’s what I mean, a customer-facing LLM system — can it do it?

• The messaging bot can make dining, spa and entertainment reservations, request room service and maintenance and locate lost items after check out.
• This gap between guest expectations and operational capacity is where conversational AI shines.
• We make decisions, as I said, on data, but also, what’s really important to me is listening — really listening.
• What are you using for your copilot in your tech space?
• So, let me just ask the first foundational question.

Hospitals, high-rise office and apartment building managers have also been calling. With more service robots now able to handle elevators and navigate multiple floors, expect more machines to join the workforce soon at hospitals, schools, construction sites and beyond. You can foun additiona information about ai customer service and artificial intelligence and NLP. By asking how the guest’s stay has been, Botlr can return to reception and report that information to staff.

Google Cloud became IHG’s cloud provider in 2022, when IHG migrated components of its data to BigQuery, a fully managed, serverless data warehouse. IHG continues to explore how secured technology innovation can drive increased investment returns for hotel owners, and better experiences for guests. While chatbots have become all the rage in recent years when it comes to automating guest services, including responses to guest inquiries, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts launched its multi-channel messaging platform in 2017 without the use of chatbots. The service continues to be powered by humans, without the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning.

Or is debuting globally with Fattal Hotels and will soon be introduced in other hotel chains across Israel. In 2017, Four Seasons conducted a pilot program of the chat service in 30 hotels and found that half of its guests made use of it, averaging more than six chats during a stay. While the hotel industry has come to embrace mobile, going from concierge apps and in-room iPads to comprehensive and increasingly sophisticated apps, luxury hotels have tended to be slower than hotels in other categories to adopt texting and chatbots. This has been the case mainly because luxury hotels pride themselves on their heritage of high-touch, face-to-face customer service.