John Jaqua

HSMG 499

Human Interaction vs Artificial Intelligence

Everyday new technology is developing at a rapid pace. It is getting to the point where

human interactions are becoming a thing of the past. Humans need other humans. The hotel

industry has always been defined as having a strong and personalized guest interaction

experience. Nowadays, certain guests (especially business travelers) are starting to prefer self-

service options that prioritize convenience and speed. Even though this future can be great, how

much self-service and automated technology is too much?

We tend to become frustrated when we are directed to an automated system while trying

to make a simple phone call to a hotel. How much easier would it be just directly talk to a human

employee? When staying at a resort or boutique hotel, many guests book their stay for that

personalized one-on-one attention which comes from human interaction. If you stay at a hotel

that is strictly automated or self-service, the hotel starts to lose its “magic” that comes with the

personal attention certain guests look for. How can we move forward technologically while at

the same time maintain that personal experience? There are many pros and cons that come with

choosing whether or not to hire and train a human employee versus investing in automated

technology. Implementing AI technology may cut down your labor costs in the beginning, but

that money saved is reinvested into maintaining that technology. Robots eliminate what

hospitality is all about which is world class service. You can’t provide a personalized guest

service when robots are doing it for you.

If a hotel wants to move towards a futuristic advancement, they must first consider if it

will stray away from the hotel’s business goals. Digital platforms and automated technology
must serve humans rather than interact for us. Hotels should always provide any kind of service

that a guest may desire, while still providing as much personal engagement as possible. Robots

and artificial intelligence will never be able to mimic what humans can provide. You need to

have humans in each hotel’s department in case something happens like a system outage. You

can implement artificial intelligence in hotel experiences that have options. For example, a

hotel’s front desk has a very long line and a few guests start to get frustrated. The hotel can

implement a self-service kiosk for those guests needing to speed up the check-in process.

According to World Economic Forum, by 2025 more than half of workforce (52%) will be

artificial intelligence. This is nerve-racking because that means in the next few years there will

be less hotel industry jobs available due to AI. We need to always have humans running the

show, no matter the cost.

Charts
 Works Cited

Websites:

https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4083704.html

https://www.stayntouch.com/blog/self-service-versus-human-touch-finding-the-right-balance-in-

your-hotel/

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2018/06/11/the-new-humanism-

technology-should-enhance-not-replace-human-interactions/

YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ra3fv8gl6NE

Podcast:

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3v8rCrAuda4HGH1N40uAn4?

si=ZM1LWst9TKOyYc3w2zGF4w