ComOps Blog | Voice of Customer Inisghts

Guest feedback in hotels and casinos is a goldmine, but without the right hospitality AI tools, most properties treat it like clutter in the attic.

That’s the problem ComOps Director of Sales Sam Conley sees, and it’s exactly why Medallia has rolled out its new AI-powered functionality.

Sam shares, “Data is like a hotel room … it loses value the longer it sits empty. In hospitality, where guest sentiment shifts nightly, data is perishable.”

When customers are used to Amazon-fast and Apple-slick, a slow response doesn’t just disappoint, it damages your brand.

The Customer Experience Problem

The volume of guest data in hotels and casinos is exploding, and without hospitality AI tools, it’s nearly impossible to keep up.

Every TripAdvisor review, post-stay survey, and loyalty member comment is a signal, but most properties let those signals rot in silos.

By the time someone digs through it, customers have already moved on, or worse, taken their business elsewhere.

“Companies are asking how they can get quicker insights and faster action,” Conley explained.

That gap between data collection and data action is where customer trust either grows or dies.

And let’s be blunt: customers aren’t grading on a curve anymore. They’ve been trained by the best in the world.

“Your guests are being trained by the experiences they have with Amazon, Google, Apple,” Sam says, “so why should only the big guys be able to offer those types of experiences?”

Speed Is the New Currency

When a guest’s slot machine isn’t working or their room service order is wrong, they want it fixed —and now.

Not in two days.

Not after your next team meeting.

Not after your analytics team finishes their quarterly report.

Now.

But most properties still respond in an old-fashioned way: manually, slowly, and often inconsistently.

Every delay means one more customer left stewing. Every unanswered signal is another chance for churn.

In Conley’s words, there’s “friction” between what customers expect and what most businesses deliver. And that friction is expensive.

The Solution: Medallia’s GenAI

Enter Medallia’s new generation of hospitality AI tools designed to turn customer feedback from a burden into an instant advantage.

Conley highlights two core features:

Smart Responses
This is AI meeting humanity halfway.

By analyzing guest surveys, casino floor feedback, and loyalty profiles, Smart Responses generates personalized replies in seconds, while still respecting a brand’s unique voice. It’s not generic copy-paste automation; it’s speed without sacrificing empathy.

The results? Conley didn’t mince words: “Medallia’s seen an 80% decrease in the time needed to respond to a guest.” Eighty percent. That’s not a rounding error—it’s a tectonic shift.
Root Cause Assist
Think of this as the business analyst you always wanted but never had the budget for. In plain English, Root Cause Assist explains what’s driving changes in customer metrics and scores with just one click. It makes data analysis not only faster but also accessible to every corner of the organization.

Competing with Giants

For too long, independent hotels and regional casinos have been outgunned in the customer experience wars, unable to match the tech muscle of global chains and resort giants.

The tech gap between them and the likes of Amazon or Apple felt insurmountable. But Conley argues that Medallia’s GenAI changes that “ComOps and Medallia are making it possible for small brands to compete with larger enterprise groups, resulting in a better customer experience, improved operations, and increased revenues.”

In short, AI just leveled the playing field.

Final Takeaway

In hospitality, customer experience has entered a new era. Siloed guest data, slow responses to complaints, and manual guesswork in casinos and hotels are relics of the past.

Today, speed isn’t just a competitive advantage; it’s table stakes.

Medallia’s GenAI is proof that AI can do more than crunch numbers. It can humanize interactions, accelerate insights, and give smaller players the tools to match—or even outshine—the giants.

As Sam Conley summed it up: “This is a big win for customer experience.” And in a world where experience is the brand, that win couldn’t come soon enough.

FAQs: Hospitality AI Tools and the Guest Experience

Q1: What are hospitality AI tools, and why do they matter for hotels and casinos?

Hospitality AI tools, such as Medallia’s GenAI, analyze guest data, automate responses, and identify the root causes of customer issues. They matter because brands like Amazon and Apple has shaped guest expectations. Speed and personalization are no longer optional. For hotels and casinos, these tools turn feedback into immediate action, protecting loyalty and boosting revenue.

Q2: How do hospitality AI tools improve guest response times?

With features like Smart Responses, AI can analyze guest surveys, casino floor feedback, and loyalty profiles to draft personalized replies in seconds. Medallia has shown an 80% reduction in response time, which means guests get solutions while they’re still engaged, not days later when frustration has already set in.

Q3: Can hospitality AI tools handle unstructured feedback, like guest comments or conversations?

Yes. Medallia’s AI for Conversations can analyze 100% of guest interactions, not just the 5–10% captured in surveys. That includes call transcripts, reviews, and even multilingual feedback, providing a complete view of guest sentiment and helping properties act on trends at scale.

Q4: How do these tools help smaller hotels and regional casinos compete with global chains?

Medallia AI levels the playing field. Root Cause Assist translates complex data into plain-English insights, showing what’s driving changes in guest satisfaction. That kind of clarity was once reserved for enterprise brands with massive analytics teams. Now, smaller properties can act just as fast, delivering world-class guest experiences without enterprise overhead.