The advance in technology has influenced human beings and artificial intelligence (AI) is most discussed considering the similarity of human-like thinking process. AI has become inevitable in the hospitality industry both for the customers and the employees. Human resource management in hospitality has enormous challenges including high turnover rate, recruitment and retention, training, and development of the employees. A considerable gap is found between the expectations and the reality of artificial intelligence in human resource management. The study aims to find how human resource managers in hospitality effectively use artificial intelligence in their regular operations and in the well-being of the employees. The study takes a qualitative research approach to state how artificial intelligence is incorporated into regular functions of hospitality human resources and its impact on the organization. The findings of the study will state how AI will assist in redefining the role of hospitality human resources management in enhancing their efficiency and agility.
TopIntroduction
In the era of digital technology adopting artificial intelligence (AI) has been essential as it provides new opportunities and challenges to all industries including hospitality. Researchers have defined AI differently, but commonly it is “stated to be a machine that performs tasks of humans or acts like human intelligence” (Jiang et al. 2018). AI is transforming the way individuals experience their lives, jobs, transportation, and interactions with big data, machine learning, mobile technology, the Internet of Things, geotagging, virtual reality, speech recognition, and biometrics which have been part of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) (Azadeh et al., 2018; Shank et al., 2019). AI-based solutions are sufficiently intelligent to entirely replace human tasks while enhancing the speed and precision of transactions. The leading hotels of the world have adopted AI as it enhances their operation in many ways (Zhou, 2019) which allows the guests to have a more innovative and memorable experience. Some of the hotels have adopted chatbot-based voice recognition systems that control the room temperature, and schedule and manage reservations and concierge services (Alexsoft, 2018). AI in hotels uses a facial recognition system for guest check-in and room check-in (Biron, 2019). AI uses analytics which leads to customer profiling for customized individual services, optimization of room occupancy, and energy consumption (Escobar, 2019). Other than strategic purpose AI provides several advantages which include cost reduction, an increase in efficiency, and an increase in revenue (Ransbotham et al., 2017). There is also uncertainty on the impact of AI which may bring in negative consequences. The most notable impact that AI can bring is the effect on the jobs that may replace people (Belanche et al., 2019).
Organizations that embrace data-centric and digital cultures rely on AI to innovate business models, transform processes, disrupt, and achieve competitive advantage (Ransbotham et al., 2020). AI's widespread implementation in the hospitality and tourism sector marks a pivotal phase in its digital evolution, holding significant promise for intelligent automation (Buhalis et al., 2019). AI in hospitality and tourism is used for planning, analysis, promotion, and service (Doborjeh et al., 2022). The hospitality industry is in a competitive environment with a saturation of new technologies and is also challenged by increasing costs. An organisation's success is dependent upon the ability of its employees, so it must be managed effectively by providing high-quality services, improving productivity leading to the profitability of the organisation. Hospitality, a labor-intensive industry must effectively utilize human resources to provide a competitive advantage to the hotel.