As the hospitality industry continues to evolve, so does technology, at an even faster pace. Embracing cutting-edge technology is one way for bar operators to stay ahead of the curve, and one particularly interesting advancement is artificial intelligence (AI).
Across the country, AI-driven insights are helping venues to better understand customer preferences and trends, streamline operations and boost profits. According to Paul Hadida, General Manager APAC at SevenRooms, 85 per cent of Australia’s hospitality venues are already using AI, and it’s easy to see why.
When it comes to reservation management, AI-powered systems can be used to efficiently manage bookings, optimise seating allocations, predict peak times, and according to Hadida, they can even help a venue better understand the revenue it’s driving from each group.
“AI software can predict guest arrival patterns, optimise seating arrangements and reduce wait times. This improves a guests’ dining experience by ensuring they’re seated promptly, and boosts a venue’s time at capacity, generating more revenue.
“It can also recommend table combinations and reservation inventory for a particular day, parsing through the data to understand whether a venue gets healthier margins from smaller groups or bigger parties,” he explained.
Embracing AI
Operators are not only using AI to automate tasks that were once time-consuming, but also to analyse their menus and enhance their offerings, says Hadida.
“Through a manual analysis, a bar can understand whether wine A or wine B has a higher price and how much of each has been sold. However, through AI, bars can instantly understand which wines on their menu might offer a higher margin and which might be more in-demand in the coming months due to historical spend data of upcoming reservations.
“They can take it one step further by redesigning their menu to place higher margin items more prominently, and training staff on how to upsell existing customers based on their order preferences – all with the goal of increasing revenue.”
Such in-depth analysis can identify everything from the sales of a menu item to its margins and contribution to overall revenue. With this knowledge, bars can easily determine areas for improvement, including menu items that might be missing and those which can be removed from the menu altogether.
“If a venue doesn’t provide enough options for specific dietary requirements, non-drinkers, or children, for example, AI can automatically flag this, so venues can adjust. When venues have more strategic, revenue-generating menus, it boosts both their profitability and their guest’s experience,” Hadida continued.
Balancing technology and tradition
For many people, personal touch is a key part of the hospitality experience, and leveraging AI doesn’t mean compromising the human connection that keeps patrons coming back.
While AI can help a venue to enhance its offering and identify areas for improvement, the advancement of AI-driven solutions should focus on technology that supports, rather than replaces, the human touch that makes hospitality unique.
Using AI to reduce administrative burden allows bar staff more time to focus on customer engagement, and the venues who are using AI most successfully, are the ones who have been able to strike the right balance.
“Customer engagement is a critical, but time-consuming task. AI-powered voice assistants and chatbots help bars to automate reservations, answer frequently asked questions and ensure that no inquiry – or revenue opportunity – is missed. It does so within the context of the inquiry, increasing the guest experience and driving greater operational efficiency,” Hadida stated.
“AI can also be used to respond to in-context reviews and analyse the reviews to identify common themes. If reviews reference a particularly popular special or a lack of salt in a dish, AI will identify these themes and flag adjustments that can be made to generate higher guest satisfaction.”