Along with enhanced guest experiences through personalized and automated services, the industry has adopted AI for marketing, forecasting inventory needs, allocating rooms and resources according to guest value, preventative maintenance, predicting customer preferences, and management system enhancement, to name a few. AI has unearthed automation beyond contemplation, yet it challenges an industry centered on service with decreased human interactions, lack of flexibility, bias, security incidents, privacy breaches, and software errors. Mindful advancement is needed to ensure these technologies manage legal liability appropriately.
The Root of All Disputes is Misunderstanding.
Empathy provides flexibility. One of the most critical setbacks of AI is its need for more flexibility. Not even the most direct interaction or step is foolproof in the hospitality/service industry. Innately AI systems are programmed to operate within a specific set of rules and algorithms. Over time, to provide comprehensive services, sub-rules have been programmed to rules, and options have been added to create a vastly more complicated decision/ action map. Yet these rigid systems still fail when greater flexibility – humanism – is needed.
Unfortunately, service is a continuum that ebbs, flows and bends to the consumer's satisfaction. Often, the most logical and sound decision may not make an unusual consumer happy; therefore, there is much growth required for AI systems to make. No matter how many rules one can imagine, sometimes guests may still leave unsatisfied despite the AI system's best intentions. This circumstance isn't specific to service but also to operate in a legally friendly and business-forward model. As a result, minor misunderstandings often build and lead to the most significant disputes.