The Henn-na Hotel in Japan is operated mostly by robots, showcasing the growing belief that technological advancement can drastically improve the hospitality experience.
Sounds great, unless you were the guest whose order, misinterpreted by the AI chef and then served by an automated waiter, was triumphantly presented as ‘gourmet baby food fusion.’
Understandably, the conversation revolves around the belief that technology poses a genuine risk to the critical role humans play in the hospitality industry.
This concern primarily focuses on AI’s unparalleled efficiency, which could ostensibly make human roles redundant. Yet this viewpoint fails to recognise an essential opportunity for operators. Perhaps it even underestimates the deeply human nature of hospitality itself.
Rather than replacing human contributions, AI could provide paths to amplify what makes hospitality distinctly personal. Utilising AI to enhance the precision and responsiveness of operations across various domains would enable staff to allocate more time and resources to create the memorable guest experiences that are the core of hospitality.
This development reallocates investment in traditional talent enhancement programmes, to cultivate the irreplaceable human touch that characterises the industry, leveraging AI to elevate rather than diminish the value of human interaction.
A potential training itinerary might include:
Empathy and Connection Masterclasses:
While AI can handle certain tasks, it cannot replicate human empathy. Offer seminars by psychologists and empathy experts that teach staff to deepen human connections, understand non-verbal communication, and foster more meaningful interactions with guests.
Emotional Design Workshops:
Teach employees how to design services and experiences that evoke specific emotional responses, such as happiness, serenity, or a sense of adventure, through deliberate aesthetic and interaction choices.
Narrative Hospitality Techniques:
Equip employees with the fundamental elements of storytelling, such as character development, plot construction, and the creation of engaging themes. Encourage the exploration of innovative and unexpected storytelling avenues, such as creating immersive guest experiences through fictional narratives, or personalised stories that resonate with guests’ own journeys.
Personalised Service Innovation Labs:
Foster a culture of creativity and innovation by challenging employees to think beyond traditional service models and develop bespoke solutions within collaborative environments where staff from various departments brainstorm and prototype new service ideas that focus on the subtleties of personalisation and human engagement.
Futuristic Hospitality Trends Seminars:
Keep staff ahead of the curve and encourage continuous learning and adaptation by regularly updating employees on future hospitality trends and guest service innovations through dynamic education and discussion platforms, featuring guest speakers, industry experts, and innovators.
Celebrating The Human Touch:
Last but by no means least, operators should recognise and reward employees who exemplify enhanced human interaction, reinforcing the value of such interactions in the hospitality experience.
This is not to say that artificial intelligence cannot extend its utility beyond simply automating routine tasks, allowing human staff to concentrate on delivering personalised guest experiences. With its remarkable processing capabilities, feedback mechanisms, and real-time responsiveness, AI is already playing a crucial role in enhancing personalisation and enriching the overall guest experience.
But it doesn’t have to be at the expense of the human touch.
By adopting AI as a strategic asset rather than a threat, operators have the potential to craft a mutually beneficial relationship between advanced technology and the essential human skills that form the foundation of the industry.
We, for one, hope that hospitality destinations assert their commitment to maintaining a leadership position in service excellence by deploying technology to elevate the human experience, not replace it.
Insignia Worldwide crafts new realities at the intersections of strategy and storytelling, by challenging what is humanly possible and creating what is Impossibly Human.TM