This article by our Founder and CEO, Juanjo Rodriguez, is published with the kind permission of Travel Tech Essentialist, where it was first featured. We’re thrilled to share these insights with our readers here on our blog.
I’m sitting in a coffee shop in San Francisco, having an excellent and very expensive coffee, and looking out of the window. In the last 15 minutes, I’ve seen five Waymo cars go by with no one in the driver’s seat. Waymo, the autonomous car company (which started as Google’s self-driving project), launched a taxi service in San Francisco in June 2024, and now their cars are all over the city. Seeing one feels like watching a science fiction movie; it’s almost hard to believe it actually works. Naturally, you want to try it out, and the first ride is pure amazement and discovery: you see how the car stops in front of you to pick you up, start the car from an app, play music from your phone… And then, a couple of things happen. First, someone comments: “I actually feel safer here than with an Uber”. Then, after a few more rides, when asked how it was, they say, “Well, nothing special; it just took us there.’“ You go from “I can’t believe it” to “This is routine” within a week.
As consumers, we are pretty bad at predicting our future behavior. And we are both attracted to and afraid of change: “new” is tempting, but scary. Most companies play it safe by assuming that the way they’ve been servicing consumers will continue to work going forward. This is not always true, however. My favorite example of consumer behavior change is in retail shopping. Once upon a time, if you wanted to buy a shirt, you would go to a clothing store, ask the salesperson across the counter, and he would bring some pieces for you. Good service meant having good salespeople giving you good advice. But in the mid-20th century, retail moved to a self-browsing system, where you go into the same store, don’t talk to anyone, select the merchandise you want, try it out yourself, and then pay for it. The vast majority of people prefer this system to the old one. Not only was there no loss of service quality, but the user experience actually improved
In hospitality, we are at a turning point in how to deliver the best user experience to our guests. What was once the realm of reception staff is about to be completely upended through technology and AI. Many hotels are already offering some kind of self-check-in, cutting lines and time for guests. At The Hotels Network, we have launched KITT, an AI Voice Receptionist that helps you with reservations and provides information about the hotel and its services. KITT speaks multiple languages, has all hotel data available, checks rates in real-time, and is available 24/7. It doesn’t need regular retraining and can handle all the typical questions and mechanical processes that a receptionist would do, liberating that same receptionist to do work that adds real value to the guest.
The first time you interact with KITT, it feels magical. You’re having a genuine conversation with an AI that truly understands your needs—nothing like those outdated answering machines where you endlessly press numbers to move forward. For the hotelier, it provides a whole new range of data on your guest interactions: how many people call and book a room (or don’t), what they inquire about, how satisfied they are after the call, etc. It’s suddenly obvious that the future is here, now.
An AI agent possesses unfair advantages: it has instant access to a vast repository of information, is available round the clock, and can communicate in any language. Just as a computer can store and analyze all chess games ever played to outsmart its opponent, an AI Receptionist can store and recall all details about the hotel’s rooms, restaurant recommendations, transportation options, and any other information a guest might need. Its adaptability and versatility make it a powerful tool in providing a seamless guest experience.
An AI Receptionist is not a low-cost alternative to good human service; it provides a better experience to guests. We quickly realize that a self-driving car is better and safer than a taxi, that doing your own shopping is more satisfying than going through a clerk, and that in the near future, we will take it for granted that when you call a hotel, you will talk to an AI agent who will solve all your needs.
