Worldwide: Anshuman Singh, vice president and head of consulting [Europe] at information technology and outsourcing firm, Mindtree, addresses how companies in the short-term rental space can harness artificial intelligence [ AI ] to navigate the new normal as countries emerge from their lockdowns.

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an unprecedented impact across all industries, but the travel sectorhas been particularly hard hit.

While many travel organisations had crisis management and businesscontinuity plans in place prior to the crisis, few could have predicted the extent of the Covid-19 impact.Travel agencies, tour operators, hotel groups, short-term rentals and airlines, plus many moreareas of the industry, have faced a significant drop in revenue, with the sectorseeing its turnoverreduce by 56 per cent since last year, making it one of the worst hit sectors currently.

Aslockdown restrictions begin to loosenin the UK, with hospitality businesses reopening and airlines having taken to the air again at the start of June, short-term rental businesses mustbegin to prepare for thenew normal.By using this period as an opportunity to leverage digitaltransformation, businesses can ensure technologies are in place in order to achieve economicrecovery and sustainable success.

The short-term rental sector certainly has the ability to bounceback in the coming months and revolutionise, but particularly if businesses choose to harness the fullpotential of data and artificial intelligence [AI].

The Covid-19 pandemic served a stark reminder to businesses in the travel sector that they need tofully embrace digital transformation: it has never been more important. Though it remains unclearwhat normality will be for the travel industry, it is widely accepted that the use of technology particularly greater AI capabilities will be imperative for the future of short-term rental providers, bothduring and post-pandemic.

A recent survey onAI readiness, which surveyed 650 IT leaders in the UK and US, revealed that 51 per centdo not yet understand the data infrastructure needed to implement AI at scale. The data showed that27 per cent of travel and transport providers across the UK and US have not trialled any type of AI technology,and 21 per cent have not fully deployed AI in their business. This demonstrates there is a valuable opportunityfor increased operational efficiency within the travel industry if it can embrace AI more readily, inpreparation for a post-pandemic future.

Not only can AI technologies increase demand, adapt at speeds quicker than human counterpartsand drive revenue, it can also be deployed to save business considerable financial losses byproviding solutions to problems which would otherwise result in full refunds.

Take disruption management as one example within the travel management and services vertical.Some travellers have experienced trip cancellations or been unable to travel home due toimposed lockdowns. If Covid-19 re-emerges as a second peak, leaving travellers stranded again,travel businesses could use AI to analyse the impact on changes in booking and reservationmanagement, and dynamically provide alternate safe and local accommodation solutions. This wouldprovide customers with a safe space to say for a short period while they rearrange their travel plans.

Disruption management is only one example where AI can shape the future of the travel industry toimprove the customer experience and ensure business success.Businesses that utilise technology tohelp customers through times of need will help to retain them which is crucial at a time of financialdifficulty.

With the modern traveller expecting a seamless journey from start to finish, demanding high qualitydigital and mobile experiences and real-time responses, it is important for short-term rentalbusinesses to recognisehow data and AI can shape the customer journey and the overall experience.

Customer experience in the travel industry is not a new concept; travel brands have long providedexperiences to differentiate them from competitors, largely standing at the forefront of this wave.Digital transformation has enabled this, with businesses implementing technologies to ease onlinepurchasing and searching services, realising results through higher precision in segmentation and audience targeting, and optimising customer experiences through personalisation.

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How the rental sector can use AI to succeed in the 'new normal' - Short Term Rentalz