As part of this year's edition Rentlio Rediscover 2023. a panel discussion was held The Future of Smart Hospitality - AI Leading the Way, where one of the panelists was Roberto Gobo, director of the digitization department in Valamar, who presented some very interesting examples of digitalization in the hotel industry and how Valamar is already using artificial intelligence to improve its business.
The whole panel gave an excellent overview of the topic artificial intelligence in tourism, and Roberto Gobo explained through practical examples how hoteliers can and should use artificial intelligence in their business.
As an introduction to the topic, we must first be aware of some basic assumptions before introducing artificial intelligence in tourism and hospitality.
We have to have databases, and for that we need the digitalization of the entire business. Bases that are interconnected and networked so that they can communicate with each other, which is a huge problem today due to old and different types of programs for each department and special operation, because the sector has not followed technological progress fast enough.
We are not talking about excel tables, which are still most often used today, and even still in many hotels the guest check-in/check-out process is still done manually. Today, it is a huge challenge to connect all these programs and arrange a digital structure that is efficient and that can take advantage of the benefits of artificial intelligence.
When we have all the programs (from reception, sales, crm...) networked, only then can artificial intelligence have an application, and a big one at that. All with the aim of speeding up and improving the efficiency and digitized business, especially in the processing of large amounts of databases.
"We have been dealing with artificial intelligence and machine learning in Valamar for the last four years," Gobo pointed out and presented some of the excellent indicators of the digitization process, mostly returning to the strengthening of direct sales in the hotel industry, which in the last decade has been absolutely taken over by various OTAs, especially Booking com.