In this session, Mak Abdelkafi, Senior Sales Director at Mews, outlines how AI is being integrated into hotel operations. From technical support to room assignment and staff planning, he presents practical examples of how these technologies are being used today to improve both operational processes and the guest experience, while maintaining a balance with human interaction.
At Mews, artificial intelligence is no longer a topic for the future, but a reality in the process of being integrated. “We’ve been trying to introduce AI for three years now, because we believe in it 1,000 times over,” says Mak Abdelkafi. The first concrete application concerned technical support: “Instead of calling and standing in a queue, we write to a chatbot. It’s the AI that answers. It will improve the quality of responses according to what it has learned.” – Mak Abdelkafi, Senior Sales Director at Mews
“Second point: the famous tetris, the ”tetris” that everyone knows, in how to optimize room assignment so that I clear my room, so that it’s available for long stays in terms of revenue optimization. And we’re in the process of applying AI to this too.”
“AI will compile the customer’s experience across the hotel, or the other hotels in the group. And so, the AI, what it’s going to do when the customer books or he calls us, there’s quickly a little window that opens up to the booking agent: ‘Here’s a summary of the most important highlights that happened with this customer across our hotel group.” – Mak Abdelkafi, Senior Sales Director at Mews
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“Optimizing the customer experience is largely a matter of optimizing the user experience,” insists Mak Abdelkafi. “There’s the IoT, the ‘Internet of Things’, which was a gateway. And now, AI is adding a layer on top of the IoT.”
“After that, the third point is human capital. Again, load items: how the hotel can help the hotelier optimize costs, payroll costs. And again, without touching on customer satisfaction or customer service, this is very important. This is where, I think, AI will be able, with the power of data compilation, to produce a result that takes all these constraints into account.
According to Mak Abdelkafi, the two priorities remain clear: “The first constraint is to satisfy the customer, to stand out, to mark his experience, to make it memorable. “And the second is cost. How can AI propose a staff schedule that optimizes costs, or a room assignment schedule that optimizes revenue? That’s where AI is going to have quite an important role to play.”
And what about the human element?
“I’m a bit old-school. I think the hotel business is all about people, and that’s really important. But you can’t close doors. “Today, I think that what AI shouldn’t do is replace the human in the human touch. But is AI technically speaking going to be limited? The answer is no.” Mak Abdelkafi, Senior Sales Director at Mews
“How far are we going to go with AI to personalize, to stand out, the customer experience and the system user experience? How far are we going to go? There’s no limit, but I think the future will tell.”
Join us at the Hospitality Operator Forum on June 12 for even more expert insights on similar topics.
