We recently had an opportunity to sit down with our CEO and co-founder Ben Jost. As a visionary in the realm of artificial intelligence and its profound impact on the hospitality industry, Ben shares his invaluable insights on how AI is revolutionizing guest experiences and reshaping operational dynamics within the hospitality sector.
Read along as we uncover Ben’s expert perspectives on the transformative power of Artificial Intelligence in hospitality and delve into the innovative ways TrustYou is impacting the future of the industry.
How do you see AI and machine learning revolutionizing the guest experience in the hospitality industry in the coming years?
Ben Jost: Everyone will give the high-level answer that AI will drive better personalization or higher operational efficiency. But let me try to be more specific. I categorize hospitality technology broadly into 3 buckets. One is sales and distribution, so IBEs, Website, Channel Manager, and Revenue Management Systems. Two, the operations bucket, mainly the PMS. And three, the communication and data stack. Now I think AI will make life easier and faster in all three technology stacks.
For hoteliers that translates into getting more things done, easier and faster for less money. However, the biggest disruption that AI will bring is that we will see in all data and communication platforms because AI is best suited for that tech stack, it’s AI chat or AI voice for communication and they work best with vast amounts of data. So if you look at all these technologies today in all three tech stacks, my bet is that on top of the funnel, the one entry point of the future is going to be AI-driven chat and voice for all communication with the guest pre-booking, pre-stay, during-stay, post-stay. It will use all other existing technologies but the dominant interface is chat and voice.
What does this mean for the technology players and what for hotels concretely?
Ben Jost: It means that whoever has the best technology and agents that do the job for you will win the technology raise. It could mean that, for example, PMSs and IBEs are smart databases that AI agents will use to do a job on behalf of the guest or the staff. For example, if I chat with an AI and I ask, “Which hotel would you recommend in LA near the beach for my family including 2 kids and a dog?” The AI will give me options to select from, then the AI will ask the IBE about availabilities and present them for me to choose, then the AI will complete the booking for me.
Once I make the booking, two days before my arrival a WhatsApp will be sent by an AI system that knows I am checking in in 2 days, it will ask me for information to pre-check in and upsell me the breakfast option I missed to book in the first place. During my stay, it will provide me with restaurant options, and reserve a table for me, and by asking how my stay is going so far it will make sure that I provide feedback about my experience. Should it be bad, and the AI cannot do something about it because the robot isn’t ready yet to clean my bathroom or bring me another pillow, a human will be sent.
So you are betting on AI chatbots now?
Ben Jost: Yes, we are betting on AI chat and AI voice-enabled Agents. We also need the best possible customer data and connectivity to the operating and IBE systems so we have invested heavily into building up an AI-first CDP – a Customer Data Platform that aggregates first-party data from all sources and merges them into single guest profiles so that the agents know the guest history plus all future bookings.
With these two main elements CDP and AI Agents we can trigger all communication and theoretically execute all tasks on behalf of the customer or the staff from making bookings to check-ins to upsells and recommendations. Last but not least, you need a system to measure the experience and adjust your products and services, otherwise, you are flying blind. That’s the last piece of the puzzle, the Customer Experience Platform answers the question of how a customer perceives the quality of any service you are offering as a hotel.
With the increasing role of Artifical Intelligence in hospitality in personalized guest services, what ethical considerations and data privacy standards are being prioritized with AI-driven solutions, and how is the industry addressing potential concerns about data security and guest privacy?
Ben Jost: It is essential for us that we recognize the importance of safeguarding guest data and privacy while leveraging AI for personalized guest services. We adhere to strict ethical guidelines and comply with all applicable data privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA, to ensure the protection of guest information.
What is interesting for me is that most hotels would echo that statement though many still do not have a consistent data storage strategy when it comes to for example consent. We as an industry can learn a lot from the big e-commerce players, and the answer there is a customer data platform that again aggregates all customer data, and that includes consent. You can collect consent via your PMS and then you collect it via your IBE and then you collect it via your newsletter sign-up and via your loyalty program. But most do not synchronize it and can give you the answer for which channel the customer gives us and which type of consent. That’s an important job of the CDP – the Customer Data Platform.
TrustYou will be showcasing its latest cutting-edge AI developments at ITB Berlin 2025 from 4 to 6 March. Make sure to stop by the booth in Hall 8.1 booth 122 and get an exclusive insight from TrustYou’s CEO or one of our experts and see it live.
