Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising hotel telephony, helping make Interactive Voice Response (IVR) systems in several ways.
As AI technology becomes more widely available and its use is wider spread into different areas, telephony is one of the targets for higher growth in the near future.
Hotels can make use of AI in IVR and telephony in many ways, contributing to lower operational costs while improving customer service and efficiency.
Let’s look at some of the known advantages of upgrading your current IVR to an AI-powered system.
- Improved customer service: AI-powered IVR systems can provide better customer service by understanding customer intent more accurately and providing more relevant and helpful information. An AI-powered IVR system can understand a customer’s question about their booking and then help the customer with changes or upgrades, rather than just directing them to a customer service representative.
- Increased efficiency: AI-powered IVR systems can increase efficiency by automating tasks such as routing calls, answering questions, and providing support. This can free up human agents to focus on more complex tasks, such as resolving customer issues.
- Personalised experiences: AI-powered IVR systems can personalise the customer experience by using data to learn about customer preferences and then tailoring the IVR interaction accordingly. For example, an AI-powered IVR system can remember a customer’s language preference and then use that preference to provide the customer with information in their preferred language.
- Reduced costs: AI-powered IVR systems can reduce costs by automating tasks and providing 24/7 customer service without the need for human agents. This can lead to significant cost savings for businesses.
AI is having a major impact on telephony IVR systems. By improving customer service, increasing efficiency, personalising experiences, and reducing costs, AI is helping hotels to provide better customer experiences and save money in the mid- to long run.
Here are some more features that are helping to revolutionise telephony IVR systems:
- Natural language processing: AI-powered IVR systems can use natural language processing (NLP) to understand customer intent more accurately. This means that the IVR system can understand what the customer is asking and then provide the correct information or assistance.
- Machine learning: AI-powered IVR systems can use machine learning to learn from previous interactions with customers. This means that the IVR system can get better at understanding customer intent over time and providing more relevant and helpful information.
- Chatbots: AI-powered chatbots (when available) can be used to provide customer service through text messaging or live chat, including integration with popular messaging apps. Chatbots can be used to answer customer questions, solve issues, and provide support.
Although many believe the use of AI in telephony IVR systems is still in its early stages, the truth is it has been used for many years with less features. However, it has the potential to revolutionise the way that businesses interact with customers. As AI technology continues to develop, we can expect to see even more innovative and effective ways to use AI in telephony IVR systems in the hospitality industry.
If you want to know more about how we can help with your hotel’s AI-powered communications, contact HTM today for a free consultation. Visit our website, send us an email or give us a call at +44 (0)1908 525 140.