It’s easy to get caught up in everything swirling around AI, but the best thing you as an employer can do is understand the different tools out there which you can use to benefit your business.
Firstly, it’s important to know that AI is here to make work easier and more efficient, not take jobs. At Planday we created a Tech Trends Report for 2025 to demonstrate exactly how AI will benefit hospitality businesses moving forwards – one of the main takeaways was that technology won’t only free up time and streamline employee tasks, it will actually improve the customer experience too.
Hospitality management has many pain points that take up staff time and resources. Staff can spend hours on bookings, payroll and inventory management. Human errors, such as double bookings, miscommunication, invoicing mistakes or even slow response times can cause financial losses and guest dissatisfaction. Without AI, businesses cannot realistically provide 24/7 customer support, leading to missed opportunities that can in time have a large impact.
We are in that crucial early period of a technological breakthrough where those that don’t keep up may be left behind. Already, 53% of hospitality businesses have adopted AI in some way, and this figure will only keep growing. Embracing AI early will enable hospitality businesses to stay ahead of the competition and unlock new levels of customer service and operational excellence.
Benefits of AI:
AI brings many benefits to the hospitality sector, but the most important is probably its ability to streamline operations and improve business efficiency. AI-powered tools can help predict inventory needs, optimise bookings and even suggest cost-saving strategies. Tools that assist with these labour-intensive admin tasks are set to become the norm in hospitality businesses and will make operations smoother and more profitable.
We are also seeing the rise of AI ‘agents’ across multiple industries, which function similarly to a personal assistant. Managers will be able to use these ‘agents’ for every day tasks, such as scheduling meetings and managing events. This will free up time, allowing team members to spend more crucial time ensuring employee and customer satisfaction across the business.
We also predict higher employee satisfaction in businesses that consistently use AI tools. There are unpopular tasks in every job, and in hospitality that is usually the admin side – scheduling, finances. For managers and their staff, admin can be boring and time-consuming, taking time away from interacting with customers and delivering great service. AI can solve that; it can automate staff schedules, help with emails and cut down paperwork, enabling staff to get back to doing what they do best and, likely, what they entered the hospitality sector originally for – to help create memorable guest experiences and interact with their teams. So it is likely that job satisfaction will increase, stress decrease and staff turnover reduce – benefiting both employee and employer alike, and ensuring a more cohesive and collaborative business.
A final, exciting feature of AI will be its ability to analyse guest data, allowing businesses to offer highly personalised experiences. AI can track things like room temperature and lighting, creating the perfect ambience for each guest. It can record dietary requirements, so these are noted and taken care of from the minute a customer arrives. AI can even take note of past activities/preferences and create recommendations based on these. Hospitality providers will be able to create tailored experiences for each guest like never before, enhancing their visit from the get-go and boosting customer loyalty.
How to start adopting AI:
Although the benefits of AI technology may be evident, it can still be difficult to know where to begin adopting it. We recommend starting small and experimenting with basic AI tools.Tools like ChatGPT or Claude are free to use and can assist with tasks such as brainstorming ideas, organising thoughts, planning events or creating marketing content. Once these become a part of everyday use, you can start exploring more complex solutions to implement in specific departments.
It is also vital to keep your entire team up to date with the latest technologies if they are to be used moving forwards. You can share AI-related articles, attend workshops and have open discussions about how AI can be used effectively. Although there is a taboo around AI as some kind of ‘cheat’, it should be encouraged as a tool that speeds up basic tasks and assists with creative ideas that will benefit the business.
Finally, it is important to consider the most valued part of your business – customers. Identify exactly where AI could be implemented to give them a better and more personalised service, and how staff could be freed up to spend more time doing what they do best – helping customers have the best experience possible.
