Up-and-coming tech company PolyAPI uses complicated code to uncomplicate hotel operations.
By Roxanne Grant
It seems you can’t go anywhere without hearing about the possibilities (and fears) associated with Artificial Intelligence. That’s no different in the hotel industry.
ChatGPT — the most talked about language processing development in AI — has made waves as a chatbot serving up ideas for whatever subject one can imagine. Developer OpenAI continues to add plugins, creating extra ways to enhance the user experience.
A new AI-powered app has arrived, and it could help hotels reimagine how they do business.
Up-and-coming platform PolyAPI enables hotels to generate plugins, integrate APIs — aka application programming interfaces — to work intelligently with other apps and benefit from AI’s advanced streamlining capabilities.
In other words, PolyAPI is set to take the hotel world by storm.
Right around the company’s commercial release, founder and CEO Darko Vukovic and COO Jake Dreyfuss share their insights on the state of the industry and the future of hospitality.
1. Optimize communication
It’s imperative that hotels can easily communicate between applications and across user interfaces. PolyAPI elevates this exchange by enabling hotel plugins to work with existing applications, connecting guests without reinventing the wheel.
“With PolyAPI, it’s very easy to integrate messaging services like WhatsApp, SMS, Facebook Messenger, etc.,” Vukovic says. “So these AI agents can now be exposed via messaging channels as well.”
Dreyfuss adds: “Wherever you want to meet the customer, that’s up to the hotel.”
Because AI operates from the hotel’s own data, customers only see what hotels want them to. The same goes for employees — out-of-date information from old applications is easily omitted.
AI also opens up communication through natural language processing.
With PolyAPI, guests and employees can use their own language to ask questions, make requests, or have a full-blown conversation with a chatbot. No need for an interpreter.
Dreyfuss points out: “Regardless of where the hotel is, or where the guest is from, now they can use their own natural language to converse with your brand.”
2. Facilitate bookings
AI portals now make booking trips a piece of cake.
A hotel’s plugin can take care of the entire reservation. Eventually, AI portals will learn guests’ booking habits and make suggestions in real time. Guests are needing plugins less and less.
Simplifying the reservation process is only the beginning.
Cutting out the middleman could be next. Hotels might become the primary booking source — not only for reservations, but for travel, too.
It’s not uncommon to book travel and hotel at the same time. Hotels lose money when guests use third-party websites like Expedia and Booking.com. PolyAPI encourages hotels to be that central point, projecting a future where everything is booked through the hotel.
Guests won’t have to juggle multiple reservations through different companies. Everything stays in-house.
It also means extra revenue in the form of referral fees.
Dreyfuss stresses the importance of leveraging brand loyalty, describing hotels as potential “booking engines” for airlines, rental cars, and other activities: “It’s a big paradigm shift.”
Guests often have a favorite place to stay, especially frequent travelers like Dreyfuss. Since the majority of time is spent at the hotel, not on a flight or in a rental car, it only makes sense to capitalize on hotel loyalty in the overall booking process.
3. Customize service
One of the most exciting things AI can offer is unparalleled customization. Many businesses operate with a limited staff, which usually means sacrificing service.
This is where AI steps in.
High-end service is usually reserved for the glitziest of places. Thanks to PolyAPI, budget hotels and mom-and-pop establishments can provide something similar. The platform allows hotel staff to access data and respond quickly. The investment is small compared to the return.
Dreyfuss describes how something ordinary like dropping off fresh towels can become extraordinary: “When I’m delivering those towels, it’s not just a knock on the door and leaving them on the ground.” Staff can use available data to refer to guests by name, offer a perk for rewards club members, and personalize interactions like never before.
Additionally, streamlining tasks leaves time to invest in staff training.
PolyAPI does not share the concern over AI replacing human jobs. Instead, they say the AI revolution is providing a much needed upgrade. Knowing a guest’s name, where they’re from, or that they just came in from a 10-hour flight can turn an average stay into a memorable one.
AI learns from habits, responds to queries, and can alert staff how hungry a guest is or even their temperature preferences. Imagine getting ahead of potential complications like never before.
Less time fixing problems means more time creating magic.
The intelligent way to operate
AI does not replace the human experience — it enhances it.
This evolving technology has the capability of making guests more happy, making daily operations smoother, and making employees’ lives a lot easier. Even brand developers won’t have to sift through hundreds of lines of code anymore — it will be as simple as asking a question and getting the answer.
Platforms like PolyAPI set a precedent for a new level of working.
Streamlining isn’t as costly as hotels might think, either. Guests have no extra price to pay other than a ChatGPT subscription (which could change). The efficient use of data seems to be worth the investment.
As Vukovic prepares to present at a major conference featuring other programming pioneers, the world continues to embrace AI, controversy and all.