Artificial Intelligence (AI) will allow mainline hotels to offer the luxury experience to everyone, a travel industry executive said at ITB in Berlin.

'AI will allow an average employee to perform like an employee at a top-notch luxury property,' said Clinton Anderson, executive vice president (EVP) of Sabre and president of Sabre Hospitality Solutions.

Anderson said Sabre is working on solutions that will help “hotels get down to a reality of one, of knowing what each customer wants.”

“When a front desk person asks me ‘have I stayed here before’, when I’ve stayed there 50 times before, that’s a frustration,” he explained. “Looking through many ‘Andersons’ to find my customer number is aggravating. We want hotel staff to focus on the personal experience, and we can do that with AI.”

Anderson said AI holds the promise of offering every guest a personalized experience, though he emphasized that the technology is still in the development phase.

“We have to prove to the hotel owners that it works and has value,” he said, adding that one such application would be to connect sports fans with their favorite teams.

On privacy, Anderson said “significant numbers of customers will be comfortable with AI if they see value in it.”

Anderson said 60 percent of customers will pay more if they believe they are receiving a custom offering.

“My family thinks I live this sexy life traveling around cities, but the reality is we don’t really have a lot of time when we travel,” Anderson emphasized. “If you can provide local options that save time, hotels can increase quality of experience for guests.”

Anderson said AI could be of use both to Sabre’s largest customer, which manages 8000 properties, as well as to its smallest customer with one property.

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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