ALEXANDRIA, VA/USA – The hospitality industry is entering a new era—where artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a futuristic add-on but a competitive necessity. For decades, hotel meeting and group sales processes have remained outdated, relying heavily on manual tasks such as parsing lengthy RFPs (requests for proposals), checking room availability, and crafting customized proposals. This inefficiency has cost hotels valuable time and lost revenue in a market where speed means everything.
Now, that’s changing fast.
According to recent international media reports and insights shared at industry conferences, AI is rapidly transforming how hotels handle group bookings—boosting productivity, reducing response times, and dramatically improving conversion rates. With group and meeting bookings representing more than 35% of all hotel room nights, the stakes couldn’t be higher.
The Pain of the Past: Manual Workflows & Missed Opportunities
Traditionally, hotel sales teams could take up to 48 hours to respond to an RFP, and proposals took an average of 81 minutes to produce after being opened, as revealed by Radisson Hotel Group at a recent industry summit. These delays matter: data shows that same-day proposals convert at a rate of 25–27%, meaning hotels that respond faster win more business.
Despite the growth of AI in other parts of the travel industry—from chatbots to personalized booking tools—meetings and group sales remained largely untouched. That is, until now.
Radisson’s AI-Driven Turnaround: Real-Time Productivity Gains
Radisson Hotel Group is at the forefront of this transformation, partnering with hivr.ai to implement cutting-edge AI tools across its group sales operations. Among these tools is “Alex”, an AI email agent capable of instantly reading, extracting, and uploading meeting request information into the hotel’s systems.
The results are significant: using Alex, Radisson cut average response times from nearly three hours to just 97 minutes—a time savings of over an hour per request. More importantly, the hotel can now handle 100% of incoming proposals more efficiently, giving teams more time to focus on personalized service and event execution.
Additionally, Radisson debuted “Mandy”, hivr.ai’s AI-powered phone assistant that manages both inbound and outbound calls 24/7. Whether answering FAQs or following up with clients, Mandy functions like a human assistant, freeing up sales staff to tackle more strategic, revenue-generating tasks.
Faster, Smarter, Stronger: Why AI is a Sales Game-Changer
The integration of AI isn’t just about saving time—it’s about increasing deal flow. In today’s hyper-competitive market, the first to respond often wins the contract. AI solutions like Alex and Mandy enable hotels to be faster, smarter, and more responsive, converting leads that would otherwise fall through the cracks.
What’s more, AI reduces staff workload and stress, improves guest communication, and enables better decision-making through real-time data and automation.
The Future is Now: Embracing AI as the New Standard
As group and event travel rebounds globally, hotels that fail to modernize their sales infrastructure risk falling behind. The success of Radisson’s AI rollout shows that automation is no longer optional—it’s an essential part of staying relevant and profitable.
In short: AI is doing the heavy lifting, and it’s paying off. Hotels embracing this technology are poised to win more business, boost guest satisfaction, and unlock new levels of efficiency in a fast-moving marketplace.
Source: GBTA