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Operating 365 days a year, the tourism and accommodation industry is a tough one to run. Among other services industries, its job separation rate is one of the highest. There are chronic personnel shortages and aspects of coping with languages, increased personnel costs, and operational efficiency issues. According to data from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan on the job separation rate, the hiring rate is almost equal to the turnover rate. Regarding languages, the accommodation facilities are unable to cope with multiple languages, leading to lost opportunities. In addition to a shortage of labour, especially ones qualified in understanding various languages, it is also costly to allocate staff who can serve foreign customers.
Japan-based TradFit addresses these challenges by developing concierge applications that use AI speakers with graphics to support various guest requests to improve accommodation facilities’ profitability. The company provides a way to lower costs for hospitalities by delegating specific tasks to the AI, which saves time for employees and streamlines fulfilling guest requests. “TradFit is a service that utilizes voice, AI, IoT technologies, and more to improve the operation of accommodation facilities and the experience of travelers,” says Yoshiki Toda, CEO of TradFit.
TradFit offers a service that allows facilities to provide hospitality to the guest requests given by voice commands without being overwhelmed by inquiries from guest rooms. For example, the company can provide recommendations for facilities, tenants, and services inside and outside the accommodation and room service and borrow items. These functions benefit the guests by providing prompt services. There will be no waiting on the phone line or having to stop by the front desk.In addition to contactless voice operation, TradFit’s chat system, combining AI with human response, enables integrated management that includes guests’ special requests. By analyzing the accumulated big data, the company can visualize the guests’ requests both at peak and off-peak times, leading to further improvements in operations, services, and marketing. “As clients adopt our system, they can reduce costs such as PBX or phone installation while expecting an ROI even during the first year,” says Toda. Besides, TradFit is currently working on its Property Management System (PMS) that will be able to improve further operations, services, and marketing of group assets tailored to various types of attributes without identifying personal information. “This will allow us to provide even more finely tuned guest services,” says Toda.
TradFit’s AI helps hospitality clients streamline their services, freeing up employees’ time resulting in an enhanced work-life balance. At the same time, the company enables significant cost savings in reducing labour and eliminating unnecessary equipment. For example, a hotel with 200 guest rooms no longer requires a VoD system that costs around 4.4 million yen and saves approximately 4.7 million yen for the replacement of guest room equipment (clocks and high-class speakers) together with phones. “We calculated the cost reductions to be 15.2 million yen in the first year and 50.4 million yen by the fifth year.”
Especially in today’s times when the hospitality industry uses trial and error to try and hold down even small expenditures, TradFit allows revision of unnecessary expenses. These unnecessary costs could be contributed towards the raise of employee wages. Clients choose TradFit’s service as it can be managed remotely by small numbers of people that protect employees amid the COVID-19 pandemic as they need not get in touch with any of the guests. “Our services help provide safety and reassurance to guests and to staff of accommodation facilities,” says Toda.
As clients adopt our system, they can reduce costs such as PBX or phone installation while expecting an ROI even during the first year
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