‘Do more with less,’ says Microsoft exec

Microsoft is working with over 3,000 companies to explore ways to bring generative AI to their businesses.

This includes several applications in the travel industry, as Shane O’Flaherty, Global Director of Microsoft’s Travel, Transportation and Hospitality Division, highlighted in his presentation at HITEC in Toronto.

“We work with thousands of companies around the world, so it’s here and will remain here,” O’Flaherty said. “Everything we do is focused on increasing operational efficiency and enabling us to do more with less.”

According to Michael Yeomans, senior vice president of business intelligence and data solutions at the company, its key continuing partner is Amadeus, a global distribution and travel software company, which now has technology products for the travel industry. It is said that it is considering how to integrate generative AI into .

“Microsoft wants to invest in the travel sector and we want to do that through the Amadeus Group. It’s going to be like that,” Yeomans said. “And that means that instead of thinking, ‘How am I going to build it?’, we can think about building on top of that.”

Microsoft is an early investor in OpenAI, which means Microsoft has exclusive access to the companies behind ChatGPT’s technical prowess.

Mr. O’Flaherty highlighted some notable application potential in the travel industry. “We are seeing many unique use cases with generative AI in the market today, and they are just around the corner every day,” said O’Flaherty.

1. Your Personal AI Assistant

One of the long-term goals of AI is that travelers basically always have a virtual travel agency that can guide them from pre-planning to post-trip. However, for the concept to work seamlessly, all companies must be able to access customer data and share aspects of that data with each other throughout the process.

“When I arrive at the hotel, I end up with my own AI assistant, and the brand will have its own AI assistant. will be discussed,” O’Flaherty said.

2. Flight delay prediction

One potential innovation in the aviation industry involves generative AI that predicts flight delays based on communication between flight crews.

The idea is that AI could monitor chats between staff working on individual flights. If there is any indication in the conversation that the flight may be delayed, the AI ​​may determine how future flights may be affected. You can then alert your operations center staff so they can take action.

Real-time information makes all the difference, as a single flight delay or cancellation can have ripple effects, as we regularly see in the industry.

“If you think about it from an airline operations center’s point of view, if we could give them another 15 minutes to get back on the flight to make better decisions, the cascading effect would greatly improve operational efficiency. said O’Flaherty.

3. Customer service chatbot

As major online travel agencies deploy generative AI chatbots, hotels want to release similar tools to help with customer service and more.

If the chatbot on the hotel website cannot answer the customer’s question, it will be routed to a real agent who will answer the question, just like today. With the latest AI developments, AI may be able to “hear” that conversation and answer that question the next time it is asked.

“So you’re constantly learning using this deep learning type of processing,” O’Flaherty says.

4. Overview of customer messages

A product is in development that aims to listen to phone calls and generate an overview of the problem so staff don’t have to listen to potentially long calls. For example, if a hotel employee has to deal with her 20 voicemails, it could save a lot of time.

Summarization tools can also be useful for companies like large hotel chains who have to read through thousands of pages of contracts from their business partners. Generative AI tools may have the ability to “read” the contract and answer questions about the contract.

5. Hotel sales email

Generation AI can summarize incoming messages, so it can draft responses as well. With proper access to hotel schedules, AI-powered tools can display that information and respond to emails about accommodation availability dates and rates.

“Basically, what we’re saying is, from a sales perspective, the co-pilot will guide you 70% of the time to answering emails,” O’Flaherty said. “ChatGPT allows us to incorporate all of this into the products and services our customers own, which increases their productivity.”

Photo credit: The latest advances in AI are expected to change the way hotels operate.