In the race to automate, the hospitality industry has embraced artificial intelligence to solve some of its biggest challenges — staffing shortages, rising costs, and growing guest expectations. But as hotels adopt tools like voice bots, chat interfaces, and automated guest messaging, many are discovering that AI’s biggest weakness isn’t speed, language skills, or availability — it is personalization.
The promise of AI in hospitality hinges on its ability to offer guests a seamless experience — quick answers, easy check-ins, and 24/7 support. If the support you receive is generic, cold or scripted then it will often result in frustration rather than satisfaction.
Research is confirming what many hoteliers have suspected: AI knows a lot about guests, but still doesn’t know everything. Know them.
Generic No Longer Cuts It
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According to McKinsey71% expect that companies will deliver personalized interactions. 76% of consumers are frustrated when this doesn’t occur. This frustration is important because personalization has evolved from convenience to connection. In hospitality, where guest experience is everything, failure to deliver personalized service can cost more than just a poor review — it can cost loyalty.
The guests don’t only want the best room or an on-time check-in. The guests want to be remembered for their birthday, have their favorite wine suggested, and have their preferences recognized. AI systems that only rely on a limited number of scripts or data are often unable to deliver. As Forbes Tech Council AI-generated interactions can feel unauthentic when they lack context. It knows your name, the type of room you have, and whether or not you are a loyal customer, but doesn’t know if your engagement is imminent, how your most recent trip went, or what your previous vacation was like.
Machine Learning: The Human Gap
What is at the heart of this issue? AI understands data. Humans understand nuance.
The majority of AI-based hospitality systems are based on structured inputs, such as booking details, profile information, and reservation history. But they miss intangibles that real service staff are able to pick up instantly: tone, mood urgency and emotional subtext. It’s for this reason that a guest who asks about a late check-in following a long flight may get a technically accurate but emotionally tone deaf answer like “Our check-in policies begin at 3 PM.” They needed empathy. They needed to hear, “Of course—we’ll hold the room and get you settled as soon as you arrive.”
AI may not be cold by nature, but it’s still limited. As BuiltIn As a result, AI is unable to gather data. It lacks empathy. What is the result? Technically efficient, but unsatisfying interactions.
Over-automation: A Risky Practice
Poor personalization can quickly backfire when automation becomes the frontline for guest interaction. When guests become frustrated, they escalate their complaints to human staff members, which increases the workload that AI was supposed reduce. They may even abandon the interaction, resulting in missed bookings, upsell opportunities lost, or a poor brand perception.
In an era where 67% of guests say they want relevant product or service recommendations, and 61% want brands to recognize their personal milestones, the inability to personalize isn’t just a flaw — it’s a liability.
AI still has its place. Personalization cannot be a last-minute decision.
How Should Personalization Look?
In hospitality, personalization is more than just adding a guest’s name to an email or remembering the last time they stayed. It is about adapting the service in real-time to meet emotional or contextual needs. It’s an early checkout that is offered to them before they even ask. Based on the guest’s travel history, a room upgrade is recommended. When the guest is having difficulty communicating, a multilingual response will be given.
Some AI systems are pushing the boundaries of what is possible. Travel Outlook’s Annette, The Virtual Agent™ (Annette) was designed with advanced natural language processing (NLP) to allow for more context-aware interactions. Annette does not only answer questions; she also listens, learns and adapts. Annette can escalate interactions to a human agent when a guest’s voice is distressed, or if the issue is outside of normal parameters. That’s personalization, too — knowing when not to fake it.
The Way Forward: Achieving Smarter AI and Stronger Teams
AI will not replace hospitality professionals, but rather work with them. For this partnership to be successful, AI systems need to evolve beyond scripted automatization and enable true personalization at scale.
This means:
- Collecting richer guest data across interactions—not just bookings.
- Integrating property systems in order to show real-time activity of guests.
- Use sentiment analysis to dynamically adjust tone and response.
- Knowing when to escalate to a human — not as a last resort, but as part of the designed experience.
AI should improve, not replace, the emotional intelligence at the heart of hospitality.
The Takeaway
What is AI? You can also read about how to get in touch with us. Do and what guests Expectations It is still far too big. The biggest blindspot in AI-driven technology is personalization. And as expectations increase, this gap will only become more apparent.
For AI to be quick is not enough. Or available. Or multilingual. If it cannot treat guests as individuals, or recognize their moods, needs, and milestones, then it is not living up to the promise of hospitality. AI needs to be able to do more in this field than just automate. It must understand.
For more information on how Travel Outlook and Annette, the Virtual Hotel Agent™ can transform your hotel’s operations, visit TravelOutlook.com/Annette today.
