Northstar

NOV-DEC 2017 49 meetings & conventions • mcmag-asia.com Using artificial intelligence to boost competitiveness in the MICE market, shares Felix Undeutsch, head of MICE & Groups, Expedia, Inc. Additional reporting for Meetings & Conventions Asia More intelligently managed meetings F elix Undeutsch (Head of MICE & Groups, Expedia, Inc.) is optimistic about how the technology will revolutionise how meetings and events are managed. He identified two ways in which intelligent automation could boost efficiency in the meeting segment for hotels. "AI can play a major role in fully automating [the growing number of RFPs in the booking process] … from a price and availability perspective," said Undeutsch. Doing so would grant hotel sales teams more flexibility to handle complex RFPs that would likely yield higher revenue. This could be achieved by engaging with chatbots that are specifically designed to answer RFPs, which would streamline the booking process. Secondly, embracing predictive analytics to facilitate flexible pricing for meetings and events could help hotels maximise the value of their venues. "With the help of AI, sales managers could set more meaningful prices...in the form of self-learning price algorithms that operate in the back-end." However, there are key challenges that the MICE industry must overcome to fully embrace this prospective technology. "The meeting segment in hotels and non-hotels is still very much fragmented with a lack of standardisation in terms of pricing, availability and booking process… To improve, internal hotel systems… need to make certain data accessible," says Undeutsch. It would depend on a broad and robust database for machine- learning (or even a static algorithm) to work optimally. Hesitancy to share data and build a more robust database that would grant automated systems with the information it needs to make accurate pricing predictions could be holding the MICE market back. So, in order to stay competitive as technology becomes more ubiquitous within the meetings industry, different groups in the space may be wise to think collaboratively too. Words Marissa Trew and even a new potential revenue source for that content." Next steps Right now we're in the data-collection phase of AI technology, notes Gokul Solai. "Just like humans make memories and learn knowledge from experiences, these artificial intelligence mediums need data to be able to have that experience and grow decision- making capabilities." We need only to look at the short-term plans of those already in the business, however, to get some ideas of what AI might help meeting professionals accomplish in the near future. SummitSync, for example, is testing an enterprise version of the software that will help to predict which events will drive the most revenue for sponsors, based on the aggregate behavioral data of the attendees of past events. Tim Groot wants Grip to be the IBM Watson of event networking, to offer Grip's API to organizers who want to integrate the matchmaking engine to connect people with products, exhibitors and each other, and to connect recruiters with job- seekers. "We are looking at a lot of interesting avenues," he says, "where matchmaking is a challenge." Groot says the next stage of AI involves predictive technology. "We want to be able to anticipate your next steps based on your interactions and what you've been doing." An AI platform could analyze your profile in the context of a show schedule and suggest what you should do and where you should be at any given time during the program. "The goal would be to create that magical experience," he says, "where everything you need is pushed toward you, where reservations and plans are made based on your profile. That's what we're taking steps toward — figuring out how we can get a bit closer to that and create some magic."

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