Artificial intelligence is increasingly prevalent in our day-to-day lives, and it isn’t going away. When it comes to guest messaging, AI can be a great tool for hotels to leverage. Chatbots can also fall short in elements of exceptional customer service. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of using AI to message your guests.

Pros:

Alleviates work

Let AI do the mundane tasks so your staff can do the meaningful work. Many hotels are familiar with staff shortages, and it is bringing unique challenges for providing exceptional customer service. Guest messaging on its own already alleviates unnecessary strain on your staff, as they can respond to multiple requests at the same time. AI can take that one step further by enabling them to respond to simple questions with one click. Instead of having to type out the same answer over and over, AI will let the front desk quickly read the response and press “send”. This allows them to help the next guest with their best service, and takes a lot of stress off of their hands. 

Keeps messaging consistent

When you train AI tools to match your brand language, it keeps it consistent. There are variables that can alter the language with employees, especially for new employees. Features like AI-suggested replies use your past conversations through guest messaging to generate a response that would be consistent to your previous responses to similar questions. It doesn’t take data from the internet to make a generic response; instead it takes your specific property’s conversation data to generate a customized response for your guests. That means the AI replies won’t sound like a robot; they’ll sound like you and your staff. When using the suggested replies, you can trust that the conversations will be consistent with your branding and customer service.

Cons:

Can’t continue face-to-face conversations

One of the big limitations of AI is the ability to transition to and from physical and digital conversations. If a guest stopped at the front desk and asked about a request face-to-face, they will be unable to check in on that request with an AI tool without having to restate their issue. This can add more work and frustration from the guest’s perspective, leaving them dissatisfied with their stay. When a human is behind the text message, they are able to remember the conversation they had earlier and continue it digitally. This goes the other way, too! If a guest asks an AI chatbot about a request, it is likely that the front desk staff will automatically be aware of what the chatbot discussed with a guest. It makes it difficult for staff, too, to continue a conversation with the guest if they don’t have any context. 

People want to talk to humans

Overall, people still want to connect with other people. Especially in customer service, they are looking for a real person to validate their concerns and personally resolve their issue. Even as AI exponentially improves its model to be more and more human-like, we all still look for genuine relationships. It’s important for your front desk staff to be engaged in the guest messaging as it is for the guest. It creates more meaningful connections, thus elevating the guest experience and increasing brand loyalty. 

While AI isn’t going away, human connection doesn’t have to go either. Leveraging both AI and real people in your guest messaging software will help alleviate staff shortages while building great relationships with your guests.

Kipsu sees the benefits of both for our guest messaging software. Take a look at how we optimize AI with features like suggested replies to answer FAQ’s.