Artificial intelligence (AI) will free frontline hotel team members from admin so they can focus on customer experience, one of Hilton’s top executives said.

“So much of customer experience in the past has just been administration,” said Chris Silcock, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer for Hilton (photo, right). “Admin is low value. This can all be automated, allowing for a better customer experience.”

Hospitality and the human touch “is what delivers the magic” Silcock added, emphasizing that if the hotel industry “gets AI right, we can enable one hundred more years of business survival.”

Silcock said customers are frustrated “when they know that companies have data on them but aren’t using the data efficiently to help better the experience.”

Hilton plans to realize this vision by focusing on “luxury trips, not luxury customers,” Silcock said.

“People stay at a Hilton for business, at Waldorf for a luxury romantic experience, and at a long stay for other purposes,” Silcock told the ITB audience. “But at all times, they want uniformity – they don’t want to spend 25 minutes turning on a light. In all cases, a room needs to come to life. It needs to be at the temperature you prefer. It may also have your photos on the wall.”

Silcock sees a future in which AI will enable customer preferences expressed to a virtual assistant to align with preference choices at Hilton properties.

“There’s no single right answer to ‘what the does customer want’,” Silcock said. “The main thing we know is that customers don’t want to wait at a check-in desk after a long journey.”

This is strictly an exclusive feature, reprints of this article in any shape or form without prior written approval from 4Hoteliers.com is not permitted. Michael Scaturro is reporting exclusively for 4Hoteliers.com at ITB Berlin 2019 - www.4Hoteliers.com/itb.

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