Is AI Getting Your Hotel Wrong?

Glenn: [00:00:00] Everybody at your hospitality friend Glenn here. Thank you so much for tuning in. All right. Today, I’m excited because we’ve been talking about the once in a generational reset that’s happening right now out there. And it’s happening with the ways that customers book hotels. If you’ve been following the story that I’ve been doing, I started doing that too, and I found some great opportunities by using the talking natively into an AI tool about how to find a hotel. But if you, the hoteliers out there aren’t leveraging that opportunity, you’re missing out. But there is something a little tricky, something a little nefarious that you need to worry about. And that is that dreaded drift problem out there. And that potential risk of not being seen or heard correctly, if at all. But that’s cool. We’re going to get that solved today because our friends at Cendyn have got a fix for that. They’ve got a new thing called Wayfinder. It’s a cool Geo analytics and LLM monitoring platform. And that’s going to help you hoteliers out there maintain and maximize visibility across all those AI channels like I’ve been doing with ChatGPT and Gemini and all of that kind of good stuff. So in order to do this, to help me understand, I know I sound confident in what I’m talking about, but I’m clueless. That’s why we got the experts over here. We’ve got Zendaya and CEO Mr. Michael Bennett and Chief marketing officer Nicki Graham. So great to see you both here today. Thanks so much for being here, Michael. Thank you for addressing this issue that I don’t think a lot of us are really thinking about, but need to know about.

Michael: [00:01:31] Yeah. Great. Thanks for having us. Appreciate it. Yeah.

Nicki: [00:01:33] Thank you. Good to be here.

Glenn: [00:01:35] Yeah. For sure. So tell me a little bit about, you know, a little bit about how you’re thinking about this issue and why you went out to solve this problem, and why it’s so important for hoteliers to understand today.

Michael: [00:01:49] I’ll kick it off and then Nikki can get into the detail. You know, at a high level, listen, like this is you alluded to it in your opening, right? This is the second, second coming of the booking change, right? We saw early browser days which I’m dating myself, but nonetheless

Glenn: [00:02:06] And when I remember Michael, I remember that great new Netscape browser transformed everything, you know?

Michael: [00:02:13] Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. You know, and there was a, there’s a push from the OTAs and candidly, I would say the OTAs are ahead of, of the hotels again, but this is AI is different. We have a real opportunity. When I say we, I’m talking about us on behalf of hoteliers, right. And the direct booking channel to really take ownership this time. And so obviously our hotels are coming to us saying, how the heck do we, how do we get visible? How do we remain visible? And as we know today, majority of the AI or the LLM ecosystem is research, right? The conversions started, but it’s pretty minimal, but we know it’s coming. Right. And that’s going to be where the rubber meets the road. So we released Wayfinder and, and really to get ahead of that and help hotels understand how they’re being seen, what they need to do, how they fix it up, and then eventually here, that’s going to change. Obviously, as that moves into as the consumer begins to really transact with it.

Glenn: [00:03:13] That’s right. We’re in that ramp up phase right now. People are toying with it. People are experimenting with it. I think we’ve got a lot of early adopters in it. I’m, you know, dipping my toes in. I might be might be up to my knees right now a little bit, but I’m still learning. But Nikki, it’s really, it’s really great that you’re thinking ahead, making sure this happens now because again, it is a once in a generation opportunity to regain what was lost in the early days of the internet post 911, when the industry didn’t know what to do and they said, oh, yay, OTAs, you take this problem and solve it for us.

Nicki: [00:03:47] Absolutely. And I think, you know, as a marketer myself, this is an incredible opportunity for marketers everywhere, not just within our industry, right? Like I think as we think about how, you know, the OTAs and the challenge we face, they’re the only people that really know an individual brand is the brand itself, right? And I think that’s where our opportunity is with AI now, because the AI is looking for as much detail and as much quantitative information about that brand that it can find. And truly, our customers, our hotel, the hotels are the gatekeepers of that. And when we think about the opportunity here, it is massive. And Michael alluded to the fact that conversion isn’t as big as it is, as we’re expecting it to be right now, but it’s growing. And we can see in the data already kind of quarter over quarter, there is incremental increases. Each every month. People are starting to trust it more. They believe in the short snippet that they read that that’s the truth. And so this is where we see the big opportunity with especially with wayfinder.

Glenn: [00:04:54] Yeah. So what is the specific problem that hoteliers are facing right now as travelers start to become more comfortable to this? And how does that create a bigger challenge that you’re trying to solve right now?

Nicki: [00:05:07] Yeah. So I can take this. And I think you alluded to it right at the beginning. And it’s drift, right. And so people may not be familiar with that term, but it kind of says what it does on the tin, right. It’s when information is gathered from different sources that may not truly be the accurate source of truth. And this is where hotels have a massive opportunity is to create and own the narrative of their brand. And so this product Wayfinder that we’ve just launched is really helping hotels to do that embedded in their own website, CMS. It allows it flags up when drift occurs or what information is being shown when a, when a specific prompt comes up and it allows you to make that change directly in your web CMS there. And then. So it’s giving the hotel ownership of their story online, which at the moment they are losing control of with the LMS.

Glenn: [00:06:07] Yeah. Michael, that’s frightening because it is mirroring what happened 25 years ago. Right. So you’re out there, you’re you’re fighting that. So how do you see the shift changing the way hoteliers need to really think about digital presence, their direct booking strategy, particularly with independent hotels and real markets that, you know, focus on that independent boutique kind of property.

Michael: [00:06:33] Yeah, I think you still have to be defensive today, right? Because the endpoint transaction endpoint hasn’t changed yet. With that said, you have to pull on preparation mode. It is going to change. It’s going to change fast. As Nikki alluded to. We’re seeing it change quarter over quarter. It’s changing month over month. And as more and more endpoints, whether that’s a booking engine or directly into an LMS or anything that’s direct on behalf of the hotel has more direct connectivity in the LMS. It’s going to increase the speed. So again, I don’t think for, for any hotel, I mean, candidly shouldn’t be stopping your digital marketing Still, you ought to do meta. Candidly, you still have to do SEO to a certain extent. Right? Yeah. But you have to be you have to be doing both. You have to remain on the defensive right. And then you have to be thinking about offense going forward. So we don’t have a repeat.

Glenn: [00:07:25] Well, that’s a that’s a really important point you made. Generally speaking, hoteliers out there, when you’re thinking about your marketing, it’s not a one thing solution. You’ve got a bunch. You know, you got your quiver full of arrows, and some of them are more relevant than others, and some of them are fading away but still have their place. What we’re really talking about is that next great technology and really understanding how to position yourself for the future. So, Nikki, one of the problems that I have is staying on top of this drift issue, right? And it really frustrates me. It really annoys me. So how does Wayfinder and this new AI built platform identify those problems and prevent them from running rampant and out of control? So that if I had here at the house resort pool club and smokehouse, I’m continuing to be represented properly as a great place for for smoked meats.

Nicki: [00:08:17] Yeah, absolutely. So I think, you know, I mentioned it before the prompts. So we all know that’s how people are searching. Now it’s long form questions. So as long as the hotel is aware of the type of search that people are looking for. So what are the things that their potential guests are looking for when they are searching for a property like the smokehouse? Right? As long as they are aware of those things, which I’m pretty sure they all are, they have the ability to control that information and allow Wayfinder to search, plug into the LMS, determine in real time, like what’s actually happening, what’s being said of it, of the brand, and then it flags up when things don’t match. So if on your website you are saying that you offer this array of food and this type of family friendly, etc., but on ChatGPT, it’s coming up without that information or for a prompt of someone saying that they’re traveling with a family, with kids they want to have a barbecue, etc. if that’s showing that they’re not coming up for that, that shows either drift or just lack of information on your website, and you can then make that change there and then.

Glenn: [00:09:28] Oh, and that this is really important because you’ve got two distinct problems that immediately come to mind. Number one is somebody doesn’t book the room because they’ve got the wrong information. And then the other huge problem is somebody does book the room because they got the wrong information and they show up and the property is not as it was described, through the drift and through those false assertions that are out there. So thank you for following this. So what should hotel leaders be doing now to prepare for a future when all of this becomes more of a part of our daily lifestyle? Like the phones were suddenly part of our daily lifestyle, for example?

Nicki: [00:10:07] I mean, I would say the first thing is understanding. So alongside this, we also have the challenge of data, right? So without the. You know, AI can only be as powerful as the information it has. So getting data sorted within your house is incredibly important. So not just from. As we’re thinking about how data is displayed externally on the LMS, it’s being able to truly leverage this. Right. We have a massive opportunity not just in the hospitality industry, but everywhere, right? To be able to truly see great efficiencies internally, but also maximize visibility online and drive more direct bookings. So data is critical to this. And a big part of it is making sure you have the data on your website. But then also thinking about, okay, search is expanded now exponentially. Bookings is coming and it’s going to come soon. So I would say those sorts of my perspective, those couple of things are critical right now.

Glenn: [00:11:09] Yeah. And what I really like is what you’re able to do is you’re able to detect those content gaps as well against what your competition is doing. So you can have a, you know, fair attention amongst the customer mindset. Michael, what else do we need to know before we wrap up?

Michael: [00:11:29] Well, I mean, I don’t think we can talk about everything we need to know before we wrap up in a few minutes, but that’s mine for me, right? As I as I talk to hoteliers around the globe is that things are conversational, right? It’s not just I’m looking for a hotel in San Diego, or I’m looking for a hotel in San Diego, near the Marina or by the Gaslamp right there. True. It’s truly conversational, and you have to change the way you think about content. It’s interesting. Right? Obviously, I want my marketing background as well. And there’s, there’s been a consensus for a long time amongst marketers that content is king. I think finally, the broader business has realized how important content is going forward and that it truly is king. And that has to be conversational in nature, right? I mean, six months ago, I was like, oh my God, my, my FAQ’s have to be up to date because the LMS were looking at those. Right. Well, they still are, but they’re looking at everything. Yeah. Right. And they’re looking at consistency of content, not just on your website, but how is it, how does it ring within all of the places your content sits out, the review sites, the the bloggers, the bloggers, etc.. Right. So I think there’s a renewed focus on content, which makes me super happy. But I think hoteliers independent that’s gonna, that’s going to be a struggle for small independent hotels because a lot of times it’s, it’s a very small team doing a lot of things on the property and but they’re going to have to pay attention or else it’s going to be 25 years ago again.

Glenn: [00:12:58] Yeah. And that’s why Wayfinder is a great tool to help you hoteliers succeed as we make this shift. Nikki, how can we learn more? How can we find you guys?

Nicki: [00:13:09] Well, first of all, go to.com, or you can reach out to any of us. But there’s a lot we have a lot of resources. We have educational courses on what does geo mean? How can you be thinking better about it? How does it work with SEO in In alignment? We have everything on online.com, but we’d love to hear from you and hopefully help you on this exciting new journey.

Glenn: [00:13:35] I love it and I think you’re you’re absolutely right on there. Let them help you. We’re in a big sense of change right now. Everything is changing. Thank you guys so much for being here. I really appreciate it. And I want to thank you guys for being here today. To remember, now is the time to act. Now is the opportunity for you to catch up to what we lost a couple of decades ago. Hey, those great systems are out there. They’re wonderful. Good for you. It’s a great strategy, but you also need to have control. You also need to be sure that you are doing everything you want. So be sure to check out my friends over at Sendai and also like, share, subscribe, all of that kind of good stuff. Really appreciate you being here and we’ll see you next time. Remember, until then, you’ve got one life, so blaze on. See you next time, everybody.