Dive Brief:
- AI-powered agents will add complexity to how hotel companies address customer loyalty, according to a paper recently published by researchers at Florida Atlantic University, titled “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Agents and the Future of Customer Loyalty.”
- As travelers increasingly rely on AI agents to search for hotels, check prices, scan reviews and make bookings, travel decisions will be made more often by algorithms, rather than people. This could lead consumers to be loyal to certain agents or online ecosystems, rather than brands, the study noted.
- Hotel marketers will need to consider how their loyalty programs appeal to both humans and AI-powered systems going forward, the study found. To achieve this, the FAU researchers recommend using customer data to tailor guest experiences and boost algorithmic visibility.
Dive Insight:
AI agents will be the hospitality industry’s “new gatekeepers of loyalty,” FAU Professor of Hospitality Management Anil Bilgihan said in a statement. “Hotels need to prepare for a future where a guest’s preferred brand may be decided before the guest even opens their phone.”
While hotels often lean on tools like first-party data and search engine optimization to boost customer loyalty, hospitality industry players will need to rethink their strategies as AI agents mediate their relationships with consumers — “holding user data privately and using it to streamline decision-making without necessarily sharing it back with brands,” per the study.
“Hotels that design experiences for both human guests and digital decision-makers will lead the next wave of personalized, predictive hospitality,” Associate Professor of Marketing Melanie Lorenz said in a statement.
However, AI systems won’t reshape hotel marketers’ strategies completely, as “the foundation of loyalty will always be exceptional customer experience once [guests] arrive,” Bilgihan said.
On-property, AI agents could also be integrated into IoT technology to offer more personalized hospitality experiences at hotels, the study noted.
Meanwhile, half of hotel loyalty program members claim that hotel loyalty programs are no longer delivering the value they once promised, according to Accenture’s latest Consumer Pulse survey, released last month.
A strong hotel loyalty program not only encourages repeat visits, but also drives greater spending on-property, Choice Hotels International Vice President of Loyalty Nandika Suri told Hotel Dive in June.
