InterContinental Hotels Group partners with Baidu to deliver AI-empowered rooms in China

InterContinental Hotels & Resorts has partnered with Chinese technology company, Baidu, to launch artificial intelligent (AI) Smart Rooms in Greater China. 

Guests staying at InterContinental Beijing Sanlitun and InterContinental Guangzhou Exhibition Centre will be the first to trial the AI Smart Rooms.

A total of 100 AI-powered suites are expected to open this year.

The British hospitality firm says that the AI Smart Rooms will use voice technology to “improve and redefine customer experience in China’s hospitality industry.”

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Using the voice-control technology, guests will be able to make basic queries about the services and amenities available at the hotel or the current travel time to the airport, for example.

Guests will even be able to order room service through the platform or control their room’s temperature and lighting. 

“IHG has always been at the forefront of innovation,” said Lin Wang, VP of marketing, IHG Greater China. “We are thrilled to be pioneering in the hospitality industry, and exploring the various possibilities of future experience with our guests. 

“Millennials are particularly sensitive to technology, often seeking new things to try. The AI Smart Room will undoubtedly be extremely attractive for them, paving the way for a new level of modernization and consumer satisfaction.”

Customised for the hospitality firm, the AI solution has been developed using Baidu's smart home assistant Raven H, a voice-activated speaker that runs on artificial intelligence (AI) from the DuerOS platform.

By integrating AI technology with hotel operations, IHG says that the platform will “deliver a more natural human-computer interactive experience."