High-tech hospitality: Ph.D. student Abraham Terrah offers insight into AI’s growing role in hotel service

Wednesday, November 6, 2024

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After a long day of navigating noisy airports and congested highways, an exhausted
traveler enters a hotel room with expectations of peace and comfort.

Then, an unexpected voice greets the guest, and it doesn’t belong to a person.

No, this isn’t the beginning of a fantastical ghost story. As hotels implement artificial
intelligence-powered technologies such as voice assistants, the aforementioned scene
is a growing reality. While some guests welcome the convenience of these in-room innovations,
others have the unsettling feeling that the devices are intruding upon privacy.

Abraham Terrah, a Spears School of Business Ph.D. student, can offer insights into
the novel appeal and ethical issues surrounding the use of AI in hospitality and tourism.
From Alexa-like voice assistants to facial recognition-activated room keys to robot
bartenders, Terrah realizes AI is inevitably shaping the industry’s future. His research
explores ways these innovations can enhance hotelier and customer experiences while
easing concerns.

Terrah, who grew up primarily in the West African nation of Burkina Faso, often played
with computer games and popular gadgets as a curious kid. But he didn’t develop his
tech-focused research niche until the COVID-19 pandemic hit while he was pursuing
his master’s degree in hospitality management at the University of South Florida.
Although it was a difficult time to study and work in hospitality, he noticed how
AI powered the contactless services that allowed a floundering industry to bounce
back.

“It was like watching the future arrive early,” Terrah said. “Definitely, that was
my spark. I realized that yes, if AI can help the whole industry survive this crisis
that was the pandemic, maybe it can help us thrive in the future.”

Terrah wrote his master’s thesis on factors that drive hotel guests to use AI technologies,
using the cutting-edge Flyzoo Hotel in China as an example. His paper, titled “Determinants
of users’ intentions to use AI enabled technological innovations in hotel settings:
A hybrid approach using PLS-SEM and fsQCA,” received publication this year in Advances in Hospitality and Tourism Research.

In this study, Terrah identified novelty and lifestyle compatibility as key factors
that draw people toward AI innovations, impacting customer perceptions of usefulness
and ease of use. However, his findings indicate a technology doesn’t need to be particularly
useful for a guest to want to engage with it. 

People are curious about AI. If they’re prompting ChatGPT to write silly skits or
asking Google Gemini to create absurd images, then they might also want to tinker
with the latest technologies in hotels simply because they’re new and fun.

“Usually, the traditional view will say for any technology, its usefulness — what
is the utilitarian benefit? — is going to drive adoption,” Terrah said. “But it appears
that in a hospitality setting like a hotel, the experience element can override the
practical functionality for some user groups.”

Since his initial AI research at USF, Terrah has delved deeper into this field at
OSU as a business administration doctoral student with a hospitality and tourism management
option. OSU’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management introduces students to technologies that include robots and big data analytics. 

“The HTM program focuses on preparing students for the evolving needs of the hospitality
industry, emphasizing technology and innovative practices shaping the future,” said
Dr. Cortney Norris, Terrah’s faculty advisor. “Abraham’s expertise in the intersection
of technology and hospitality positions him as a valuable researcher for analyzing
and predicting consumer behavior and preferences with these emerging technologies.”

Alongside HTM professor Yeasun Chung and marketing Ph.D. student Mo Pasham, Terrah
is currently researching a concept he describes as the personalization-privacy paradox.
Technologies such as voice assistants conveniently set alarms and adjust hotel room
temperatures based on simple spoken cues, but are the ease and accessibility worth
the loss of privacy? 

“Those technologies need information because they want to provide good services to
people,” Terrah said. “And then I’m thinking, ‘Do people actually trust those technologies?’
I’m not sure about it. So, how much information are you willing to give up to have
such personalized services?”

Terrah remembers he was troubled by the 2018 news of a massive Marriott International
data breach, which put the personal information of as many as half a billion guests
at risk, according to the Federal Trade Commission. Hotels are investing in high-tech innovations, Terrah said, but rarely devote enough
resources toward preventing security breaches. Add in devices such as voice assistants
that “listen” to in-room conversations, and more personal information becomes vulnerable. 

Terrah’s envisioned solution revolves around transparency and informed consent. Think
of a website that allows visitors to accept or decline cookies — blocks of data that
save information. Terrah’s ideal system would similarly allow hotel patrons to opt
in or opt out from using the AI services, but it would provide greater detail, clearly
listing every AI technology and its capabilities in the hotel.

During the check-in process, whether on paper or on a digital screen, guests could
select specific AI functions to use and others not to use. This way, no one would
be caught off guard by an automated welcome from a voice assistant upon entering a
room. Terrah said guests should also be able to know what forms of data the AI devices
are collecting, how the hotel protects their information and which, if any, third
parties can access it.

“This can be interesting in maintaining and building more trust between the hoteliers
that use voice assistants and customers,” Terrah said. 

With trust, Terrah sees vast potential for innovative uses of AI in hospitality —
he’s also conducting research about robots in the industry. Although it’s easy for
science fiction fans to fear robots replacing human workers, Terrah doesn’t describe
the AI revolution in this dramatic way, instead saying the technologies are “complements,”
not substitutes, for humans. For example, a robot might carry plates between a kitchen
and a dining room, but a human server greets diners and chats with them about the
daily specials, still providing the personal warmth guests appreciate.

Although tourists view hotels as getaways from daily life, the hospitality experience
is a microcosm of the outside world. This means travelers expect to find modern technology
in their rooms. If TVs don’t have YouTube or Netflix capabilities, Terrah said, then
guests probably won’t be happy.

Both of those platforms use AI algorithms, revealing how AI has already ingrained
itself into travelers’ lifestyles. Hospitality and tourism are adapting to reflect
this societal shift, and as an aspiring university professor expected to receive his
Ph.D. in May 2026, Terrah wants to teach HTM students how to wisely work with these
technologies. 

“The industry is turning to being very tech-based,” Terrah said. “We are (more than)
20 years deep into the 21st century, so in-room technology is what is going to make
a difference.”