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Hotels & resorts

Slow replies and fragmented guest journeys make direct bookings harder to win.

Pilot targetMore direct bookings, less OTA reliance
Project startDate agreed in scope
ValidationMeasured against baseline
What changes

From guest enquiry to a measurable hospitality workflow.

Pilot targetMore direct bookings, less OTA reliance
01Today

The friction

Reception is busy at exactly the moment enquiries arrive. Requests come by phone, WhatsApp, email and OTA messages in several languages at night and on weekends. Upsells are forgotten, reviews go unanswered, and rates are set by feel instead of demand.

02With HAY AI

The operating change

Start with one guest-service workflow: answer approved questions, route requests and prepare pre-arrival messages in the agreed languages. Booking changes and offers depend on available integrations and hotel approval rules; staff handle exceptions and guest-sensitive decisions.

Best fit

Hotels, resorts, boutique properties and apartment operators.

Decision snapshot

Start with one guest journey where delay is visible.

Start with one workflow, measure it against the current baseline and expand only after the result is visible.

See a sample first pilot →
Best first pilot24/7 guest-request routing on one messaging channel.
What we measureGuest-request first-response time, Request completion time, Correct department-routing rate, Reception calls or manual handoffs avoided.
Human controlHotel staff approve pricing, sensitive guest matters and operational exceptions.
Scale ruleKeep, improve or stop the pilot based on evidence before expanding.
Hotel implementation plan

From a guest journey map to a working hotel system

Each stage is designed for a hotel owner and operating team: what happens today, what it costs the hotel, exactly what we change, and the simple deliverables you receive. We start with one measurable bottleneck and connect the next stage only after the first result is visible.

Smart hotel roadmap

From attracting a guest to bringing them back

A hotel is four businesses at once: room marketing and sales, revenue management, 24/7 guest service, and the behind-the-scenes operation. This roadmap connects the full guest journey into one measurable system.

How it works today
Most hotel work is still handled in separate manual steps: OTAs bring bookings but take commission, prices are changed by hand, guests receive a basic confirmation and then wait, reception routes requests by phone or radio, housekeeping plans by experience, and feedback is collected inconsistently.
Stage 1 of 8

Direct marketing & bookings

Measure direct-booking share and OTA commission against the baseline.

The problem today

When a high share of bookings comes through OTAs, commission costs rise and the hotel loses direct customer context. Visitors who see the hotel website but do not book are not followed up, and OTA prices can undercut the hotel website.

Exactly what we do

  • Show a reminder and small offer to visitors who viewed the booking page but left without booking.
  • Compare your direct price with Booking and Expedia every day and send an immediate alert when the OTA is cheaper.
  • Improve the booking page so guests can complete a direct reservation more easily.

What you receive

  • A simple dashboard comparing direct bookings with OTA bookings.
  • An instant price-parity alert when an OTA is cheaper than your own site.
  • A dashboard to compare direct-booking share and OTA commission with the agreed baseline.
Owner-friendly implementation: We show the current method, the cost of leaving it unchanged, the exact guest or staff action, and a simple checklist of what is delivered without technical jargon.

Why start now?

Every day without these systems means rooms sold at the wrong price, guests waiting for answers and upsell opportunities disappearing. Start with one stage such as dynamic pricing or a 24/7 guest assistant and expand after the first measurable result.

Opportunity map

Eight practical areas we can improve

Eight connected points where the guest journey, hotel operations and revenue flow can become clearer and easier to manage.

1. Direct marketing & bookings

Bring more guests to the hotel website, recover visitors who leave without booking, monitor OTA price differences and reduce commission.

2. Dynamic pricing

Receive a daily room-price recommendation for the next 90 days, with a clear explanation based on bookings, events and nearby hotel prices.

3. Pre-arrival & upsell

Send two- or three-day pre-arrival messages with one-click room upgrades, breakfast, transfers and other paid extras.

4. Digital check-in

Collect ID, selfie and payment details before arrival, then provide a branded check-in page, mobile code or lobby kiosk.

5. In-stay guest service

Give the hotel a dedicated 24/7 WhatsApp number that routes requests to housekeeping, maintenance, restaurant or reception.

6. Housekeeping & maintenance

Predict room-cleaning time, show the best staff route and warn about equipment problems before they become failures.

7. Guest feedback & loyalty

Survey guests after checkout, protect the hotel from preventable public complaints and turn OTA guests into future direct bookers.

8. Analytics & continuous improvement

Connect the numbers from every stage into one weekly view so the owner can see what to improve next and track the result.

Choose your first pilotRecommended starting point

24/7 guest-request routing on one messaging channel.

Start with one guest messaging channel and a defined set of in-stay requests. Route each request to the responsible hotel team, measure response and completion, then expand only after the handoff is reliable.

What we build

  • Choose one messaging channel and define the guest-request categories included in the pilot
  • Prepare approved answers, department ownership and escalation rules for those requests
  • Route housekeeping, maintenance, restaurant or reception requests with the guest context attached
  • Provide a simple operations view of open requests, response time, completion and exceptions

How we measure it

  • Guest-request first-response time
  • Request completion time
  • Correct department-routing rate
  • Reception calls or manual handoffs avoided
Next expansion

What to add after the pilot

After request routing is reliable, add one adjacent guest-journey capability at a time.

Pre-arrival offers

Add upgrade or ancillary-service offers as a separate commercial workflow with pricing approval.

Digital concierge

Expand to approved local information and concierge questions after in-stay routing is stable.

Housekeeping & maintenance insight

Use request history for operational planning as a later analytics workflow.

Why this works

Practical before ambitious.

We do not start with a vague “AI transformation”. We show the current manual method, the cost of leaving it unchanged, the exact guest or staff action, and a checklist of what the hotel receives.

Current methodBaselineMinimum systemsHuman approvalScale after proof
AI in action

See how one guest journey becomes measurable from enquiry to follow-up

Keep guest preferences, room readiness and requests connected so hotel staff can coordinate a more responsive stay.
Hotel guest being welcomed at reception with AI-assisted pre-arrival preferences, room readiness, guest requests and hospitality operations

Why this approach works for an independent hotel

Start small, then connect

Choose one stage and one measurable target first. Scale to the next stage only after the team accepts the workflow and the result is visible.

Keep the owner in control

Price recommendations can be accepted, rejected or automated. Sensitive guest, payment and reputation decisions remain reviewable by the hotel.

Use the hotel’s existing tools

Connect the PMS, booking engine, OTA channels, WhatsApp, payment flow and staff phones where they already work instead of replacing everything.

Measure business outcomes

Track direct bookings, OTA commission, response time, upsell revenue, check-in time, room readiness and repeat bookings not technical activity.

Hotel project process

1. DiscoveryInterview the owner, front desk, housekeeping, maintenance, revenue and guest-service teams.
2. BaselineMeasure current bookings, prices, response time, upsells, check-in and room-readiness delays.
3. Build the pilotConfigure one focused workflow, connect the minimum data and train the people who use it.
4. MeasureCompare the pilot with the baseline and review adoption, guest experience, cost and risk.
5. Decide and scaleKeep, improve or stop the pilot based on evidence, then connect the next guest-journey stage.
6. Improve weeklyTurn the connected dashboard into a recurring operating rhythm for the hotel.

Suggested start: one stage can go live first; the next measurable improvement can be added over the following weeks.

Information we need from the hotel

  • Room types, rate rules, booking-engine and PMS details
  • OTA listings and current commission agreements
  • At least three to six months of occupancy, pricing, booking and cancellation data
  • Guest-message examples, response times and department handoff process
  • Housekeeping times, room-readiness records and maintenance history
  • Current payment, ID-verification and check-in process

Initial diagnostic questions

  • What is the biggest lost-revenue or guest-experience problem today?
  • How many times did it happen last month?
  • What did it cost in commission, empty rooms, staff time or lost bookings?
  • Which system or data already records the problem?
  • Who owns the decision and who must respond?
  • Can we run the first pilot on one property, room type or department?

Not sure which one fits you?

Book a free 30-minute discovery call. We will identify which use case is worth testing first and what evidence should decide the next step.

Book a free 30-minute discovery call

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