Shahar Goldboim
December 22, 2024
The holiday season is upon us, and — temperature check — how are you feeling? It’s a time for joy, family, and if you’re in hospitality, often sheer panic. While the rest of the world is eating huge feasts and swapping gifts, you’re bracing yourself for an avalanche of highly demanding guests, juggling a skeleton crew of staff, and battling unpredictable weather. It’s the ultimate test of endurance – second only to spending holidays with the in-laws – but the good news is that AI can bring a little seasonal magic to make your holiday season merry and bright - not dreary and uptight.
Imagine a world where all your holiday prep headaches are gone
There’s always a lot to do to get ready for the holidays, even if you aren’t working in hospitality. But with AI, so many of these tasks are taken care of that you’ll be begging for something to do that’s more challenging than watching Hallmark movies.
Just by talking into your phone, AI will be able to find and order the perfect gifts for all the family (and even make them seem thoughtful), choose recipes and have groceries delivered faster than Santa’s sleigh, and even wrangle everyone’s chaotic calendars to plan a family gathering without hundreds of messages. This isn’t a fantasy — this technology exists already.
For the travel industry, this kind of hands-free automation is coming soon, too. In probably just a few months, you’ll be able to search something as vague as “I want to go on vacation with my family somewhere with direct flights from Miami under five hours with sea views and a pool”, and you’ll be given listings that meet your requirements and even flights, activities, and restaurant recommendations all based on your preferences.
What will this mean for OTAs when we can all search and book travel from our cell phones without ever going on an OTA, or even Google? It’s too soon to say, but they will definitely need to adapt. For property managers, this could be the great leveler, allowing you to reach guests directly and negotiate on rates without OTAs in the way.
A de-stressed December
In the meantime, there are many ways that AI can already help you to simplify the chaos of peak season.
- Your AI concierge — who won’t ask for time off
Who’s the most stressed member of your team? If I had to guess, I’d say it’s one of your guest services representatives. Dealing with the general public is hands-on and draining work any time, but especially during the holiday season when guests can be more demanding of slimmer teams.
Thankfully, AI doesn’t have a family to spend the holidays with. Virtual assistants can handle routine conversations for you — from “What’s the wifi password?” to “Can I get a late check-out?” — 24/7, only escalating to real humans when it’s really necessary.
This lightens your team’s workload and relieves the emotional pressure of maintaining a cheerful ‘Happy Holidays’ smile while dealing with hundreds of customers back to back. When a human touch is needed, AI can even help by suggesting responses, allowing your staff to step in with confidence, and reducing mental fatigue.
- Automated scheduling for seamless turnarounds
The holidays mean more bookings than usual, and that means more room for mistakes and scheduling conflicts. When cleaning turnarounds need to happen quickly, and guest expectations need to be managed more closely, AI is your ally in ensuring no bookings slip through the cracks.
Automation can take care of scheduling, updating calendars in real time based on guest information and staff availability — meaning no one has to run away from their family dinner to go scrub a toilet! When everything’s in the system, it’s also easier to let guests know when their property will be ready or if a late check-out would be possible.
- Crisis control with predictive maintenance
Just like in sports, the best defense is a good offense. That means not just waiting for problems to happen, but looking ahead and planning maintenance before anything goes wrong — making sure that the work happens at a quieter time before the holiday flurry of guests.
With automation, you can schedule checks regularly, but AI can go one step further and predict when problems might occur. For example, it could pick up on a throwaway line in a customer review, or notice an issue with the boiler in one unit and proactively schedule checks on all the units with similar boilers.
When integrated with smart home technology, this can go even further, spotting small changes that your cleaning staff might miss, especially when they’re rushed off their feet at busy times of the year.
- Last-minute revenue boosts made easy
The holidays mean heightened demand, and this time of year can be a real revenue boost — but winter weather can mean cancellations and disruptions too. Many managers are so busy dealing with the check-ins happening now that they simply don’t have the headspace to accommodate last-minute bookings, meaning they could be missing out on potentially lucrative extra revenue.
AI can handle these curveballs by taking care of the sales side of things, freeing up calendars and putting on special offers when cancellations do come in, negotiating rates with guests to fill nights. Once bookings do come in, it can then also coordinate with your cleaning staff so that everything is ready for a last-minute arrival.
Remember, guests booking last minute over the holidays are often stressed and dealing with disruption, so a friendly and attentive chatbot can make all the difference in their booking experience.
This holiday season, let AI take the reins like Rudolph guiding the sleigh, lifting the stress off your shoulders — so that everyone can enjoy the holidays: your staff, your guests, and even you.
Wishing you all a joyful holiday season with peace, goodwill, and not a single burst pipe in sight!
