Ajay 'AJ' Aluri

As hotels cut costs, they are replacing human workers with AI.

And we're left whispering sweet nothings to a glowing screen for extra towels.

Convenient?

Maybe.

But a romantic dinner recommendation from a concierge hotel robot employee?

That's where things start to get a little weird.

Do we prefer human touch in hospitality?

Well, that's what we're going to discuss with associate professor and founding director at the Nemecolin Hospitality Lab at West Virginia University, A.J.

Alluri.

A.J., welcome to the show.

Hi, David.

Thanks for having me.

So in what ways can we expect in the next five or 10 years hotels, especially mid-range hotels, to shift towards using AI and robots and check-in screens and kind of losing that human touch?

No, absolutely, David.

We are in the crossroads of high-touch and high-tech, and there's no question about that.

And more and more hotels are trying to really solve the staffing problem.

The efficiency problem, right?

So these are the major challenges.

And then part of it is going into automation and AI.

And there's a huge adoption of AI happening right now.