Bob Friday Talks: AI and Hospitality with John Bollen

0:02 hello welcome to a special session of

0:05 bay talks from The Fountain View in Las

0:07 Vegas you know here today we have just

0:10 finished up a all day session of AI

0:12 native now presentations and with me I

0:15 have a special guest from Las Vegas John

0:18 Bolan who's now the service now industry

0:20 leaders of solutions at service now now

0:23 I've known John for 15 20 years John

0:25 you've been in Vegas a good piece of

0:27 your life right now yeah since 2007 when

0:30 we opened up uh City Center just down

0:31 the street and I I hear this is actually

0:33 part of the where at Fountain Blue this

0:35 is actually one of your buildings at one

0:37 point well at one point this building uh

0:39 sat empty for a while and right before

0:40 covid it was going to get uh rebuilt and

0:43 rebranded uh that didn't work out

0:45 because of Co and so um now is a

0:47 fountain blue yeah beautiful hotel it

0:49 absolutely is so anyway John I was

0:51 hoping today maybe you could share with

0:53 the audience a little bit about hey

0:54 you've been in Hospitality you've been

0:56 in gaming you've known your way around

0:59 these big casinos

1:00 you know what is our gaming industry

1:02 doing with AI now well I mean if you

1:05 look at gaming I think what we like to

1:07 call these resorts are integrated

1:09 Resorts and that's because they have a

1:10 lot of different Services they offer of

1:12 course gaming is one of them and there's

1:14 a lot that happens and analyzing what a

1:16 gaming customer is what they're going to

1:19 spend what their lifetime value is and

1:21 we look at all those insights but

1:22 there's also food and beverage you know

1:24 so someone might want to come and have a

1:26 Persona of going to a good great dinner

1:27 or a Persona of having great ENT mment

1:30 experiences you see the DJs you see all

1:32 the different things happening so really

1:34 when you're looking at that whole life

1:35 cycle of a customer you know from the

1:37 time they can come to Vegas to the time

1:39 they don't want to come back to Vegas a

1:41 whole life cycle will go through and

1:42 during that time they'll come here for a

1:44 convention like they just did with

1:45 juniper uh they'll come here for a

1:48 business meeting they'll come here for

1:50 um a party a celebration they'll come

1:52 here for a big event they'll come here

1:53 just to have fun they'll come here as a

1:55 single they'll come here as a group of

1:57 friends they'll come here with their

1:58 partners and all those things you want

2:01 to gain the data and the insights about

2:04 what that customer wants to do who that

2:07 customer is and what offer or incentive

2:09 it will be to drive that customer to

2:12 come to your place of business your

2:13 integrated Resort and spend their Harden

2:15 dollar yeah now 15 years ago I think we

2:18 were working together on this client

2:21 this Omni Channel guest experience

2:23 tracking a guest from the time he booked

2:25 to the time he's at the hotel and

2:26 everything you know 15 years ago we were

2:29 working on the converge location

2:31 connectivity experience you know 15

2:34 years later here we are at Mist Marvis

2:36 you know maybe give our audience a

2:37 little bit about how you've seen this

2:38 network evolve over the last 10 years oh

2:40 absolutely and I mean the the network is

2:42 so important for the guest experience

2:43 it's not only important for the employee

2:45 experience I mean think about being an

2:47 employee coming into work and you can't

2:48 clock in with your time clock you can't

2:51 actually do your job because you're

2:53 doing you're you're working in a

2:54 restaurant and your point of services

2:56 down you're checking in a guest and and

2:58 you can't check them in the phone are

3:00 down imagine just how resilient the

3:02 network has to be so you think about

3:03 that like wow there's a huge dependency

3:05 on the network um now I think about that

3:08 so that the employee resides on all the

3:09 technology but so does the guest I me

3:11 imagine going up I actually had this um

3:14 I was at a wedding this weekend in

3:16 Pasadena I will not say where it is but

3:18 I went up to my I I went to my room with

3:20 my RFID key I put it on there and the

3:23 battery was dead so the door wouldn't

3:25 open so I had to go back to the front

3:27 desk but that's just a good example of

3:30 why wasn't there an alert that the

3:31 battery was low to provide insights like

3:33 a Marvis does that there was a health

3:35 problem or you go into a hotel room and

3:37 Wi-Fi doesn't work one of the things

3:38 that's been so great about Marvis and

3:40 what you've done with like the insights

3:42 of the network is you can proactively

3:44 fix that and proactively make it better

3:46 so the guest doesn't have a bad

3:48 experience and complain that something

3:50 like my experience of my hotel key

3:53 doesn't work so the networks need to be

3:55 resilient and if you go back to the days

3:57 when you and I first started working on

3:58 the networks here um the guest network

4:00 was pretty much outsourced they were

4:02 outsourced to third-party providers and

4:03 they were only in two locations they

4:05 were only in your guest room where you

4:07 would usually pay a fee to get on to

4:09 Wi-Fi or they were in convention but all

4:12 that other space all that other square

4:13 footage from going from point A to point

4:16 B the casino floor the restaurant none

4:18 of that data was there so the big change

4:21 was to get the data out of that asset

4:23 which is the network you really had to

4:25 own that and you had to make sure that

4:27 the the the information in the network

4:29 you had the right to so you could

4:31 actually have those insights to to

4:33 create a good experience for both your

4:34 employee and for your guest no I've

4:38 known you've been a Visionary ever since

4:39 I've known you in this Hospitality

4:41 business you know when you look where

4:43 the AI networking is going you know the

4:45 mobile app guest experience you know we

4:48 now I mean even I can now basically

4:49 check into my room now with my phone you

4:52 know where would you say we headed with

4:54 the hospitality experience of the future

4:56 what what do people have to look forward

4:58 to coming down the road I mean it's

4:59 going to be it's going to be a very

5:00 interesting Journey about about how much

5:02 and it gets back into our data privacy

5:04 how much information do you want to give

5:05 up because one thing in Vegas probably

5:08 the only thing in Vegas you can't get

5:09 back is time and everything in this

5:11 integrated Resort expires so a

5:15 restaurant reservation expires a show

5:17 ticket expires if it's not used or

5:19 consumed it's no longer there and if you

5:22 can make sure that the guest and that

5:25 Persona that they're in using the data

5:27 and you understanding where they are and

5:30 and taking away uh obstacles for them to

5:32 have a good time A lot of times people

5:35 want to go enjoy something and they

5:36 don't know what's available to enjoy you

5:39 know how how great is it sometimes when

5:40 you walk up into a restaurant and table

5:43 for four yes we have it that's great but

5:46 what if you could get that be oh you're

5:47 in this area we have a table for four we

5:50 know you're in a group of four let's let

5:53 you be aware of that product that you

5:55 can consume and have a great time and so

5:57 you're not waiting with your hands and

5:59 your your pocket in your very valuable

6:01 time when you came all the way to Las

6:03 Vegas and made the arrangements to be

6:05 here and if you're sitting idle that's

6:07 just no fun yeah now on the subject of

6:09 privacy for all us who watch Ro 11 you

6:12 know when you walk into a casino there's

6:15 not much price there you know those

6:16 cameras any inside secrets you know at

6:19 Vegas that we should know about when you

6:20 walk into the place yeah don't cheat um

6:23 that's probably not a that's probably

6:24 not a secret but the the the reason

6:26 those cameras are there to maintain the

6:27 Integrity of the game and the safety of

6:29 the of the guest um we have security

6:31 which keeps you safe going in and out of

6:32 the building and we have surveillance

6:34 and so we do look at people when they

6:36 walk into a casino and if they are on a

6:38 black list you know we uh security is

6:41 notified and they're escorted out

6:43 because we don't want them cheating um

6:45 which then creates a bad experience for

6:46 the guest who is wanting to have an

6:48 honest game of luck so are we doing

6:49 facial recognition yet in the casinos or

6:52 that something you can share oh yeah

6:53 it's it's there it's there high def

6:54 cameras are there okay so if you're on

6:56 this black list you know you want to

6:57 make sure you're not you know stay away

6:58 from yeah there's there's reason why

6:59 some people walked in with motorcycle

7:01 helmets to to commit crimes you know did

7:03 not be not be seen but but guess what

7:05 they get caught and they go to jail yeah

7:07 when I worked with you you know 10 years

7:09 ago we were talking about you know

7:10 gambling in the rooms and making sure

7:12 all this data was isolated you know we

7:14 were going to Mobile gambling and know

7:16 the big thing was location and making

7:17 sure we you know it only happened in

7:18 certain places is that still true or the

7:21 regulations got easier on no it's it's

7:22 still very very important um you you see

7:24 a lot of mobile betting apps and all

7:26 those mobile Bing apps have different

7:27 jurisdictions for the states that

7:29 they're in and it's important because

7:30 where where you're licensed to do gaming

7:32 is in the casino not outside the casino

7:35 so um geolocation is still very

7:37 important uh again even if you're a

7:40 resident in Nevada and you have a a

7:41 mobile gaming app from one of the great

7:44 resorts in in the in the State uh

7:46 they're going to geolocate you so you

7:48 can only bet in the state of Nevada now

7:50 um it also gets interesting is you know

7:52 there's there's been instances of well

7:55 where is some where is where is

7:57 something licensed to game so is a pool

7:59 licensed to game well maybe not that's

8:01 not a licensed casino floor so you have

8:03 to make sure that the areas you're going

8:05 to have gaming are licensed with a

8:07 control board who controls that that

8:09 that experience and I think everyone I'm

8:11 working with you know Juniper Mist

8:13 ourself we're all working on this gen AI

8:16 large language models you know I can

8:19 only imagine Hospitality gaming industry

8:23 you know you must be working with j i or

8:25 you know working with you know can you

8:27 share a little bit about you know house

8:28 hospitality leveraging these large

8:30 language models that everyone's yeah and

8:32 I think I think it's um again it's it's

8:34 a lot of question of privacy but there's

8:35 there's a lot of spend data you know for

8:38 that instance when a guest is here and

8:40 New Vegas is a little unique because you

8:42 have this large con concentration of um

8:45 really large properties in a very small

8:47 area where you have some major hotel

8:49 chains that are in Hospitality that have

8:51 lifetime customers globally all over the

8:53 world you know so like that's a little

8:55 bit of a change in terms of of what what

8:58 what the Vegas properties are looking at

8:59 but you know they're really looking at

9:01 you know what's your lifetime value as a

9:03 customer and they've they've been able

9:04 to calculate that on certain on certain

9:07 um indicators you know one of those is

9:09 time how much time do you spend in Las

9:11 Vegas one of them is spend how big is

9:13 your bet how big is your hotel spend how

9:15 big is your entertainment spend one of

9:16 them is velocity how quickly do you

9:18 spend do you go to one restaurant

9:19 reservation or three restaurant

9:21 reservations and and from those insights

9:23 they can really gain a value of what

9:26 what you like to do and what type of

9:28 guest you want to be but there's always

9:30 this other level of creepy you know when

9:32 you and I have talked about mobile apps

9:33 and everything what is the killer app

9:35 you know so when you're on the road

9:37 World roadway or traveling and you got

9:39 that app from that hotel and you can

9:40 check into your room and go right to the

9:42 door that's great but we've always had a

9:44 situation in Vegas where I might not

9:46 want you to know I'm in Vegas or I might

9:49 want to make sure that someone doesn't

9:50 know that I've come to Vegas to redeem

9:53 my loyalty points so there's a big

9:55 question of privacy about what you know

9:57 what people want to let let data see and

10:01 not see and so the data privacy laws

10:04 that the whole world is doing are are

10:05 wonderful but there's also another whole

10:08 level discretion that Vegas tries to

10:10 introduce to the to the um scenario as

10:12 well because you know some people want

10:13 to come here and they want to come here

10:15 and they want to gamble and they want to

10:16 have that good time but they don't want

10:17 that out on social media they don't want

10:19 that out you know as as their behaviors

10:22 you know they they're just trying to

10:22 blow off steam or they want to come in

10:25 with a group of people and have a good

10:26 time and they don't want a b bunch of

10:27 people following them around they want

10:29 the privacy so it's important to have

10:32 that balance but again you know

10:34 providing that customer service and the

10:36 right product at the right time for what

10:37 the customer wants to consume is very

10:40 important because again you can't get

10:42 time back if you waste an hour or waste

10:44 a lunch or waste a night you're not

10:46 going to get that Saturday night back

10:48 yeah now maybe we talk a little bit

10:49 about it because you know I've always

10:50 known you in the hospitality gaming

10:52 space your latest Adventure you're at

10:55 service now and service now is a big

10:58 Miss Juniper part

10:59 and we're working closely with them on

11:01 automating the whole it workflow

11:04 experience and I hear you're working

11:06 something similar but not quite in it no

11:08 no and then um in my last adventure that

11:10 I had I was uh the the CTO of uh Crown

11:13 Resorts down in Australia and um you

11:16 know a lot of times what we do in some

11:17 of these casinos we did it at

11:18 Cosmopolitan before it was sold to MGM

11:20 is we make a lot of big improvements and

11:23 so we go the the they get purchased and

11:25 we want to upgrade all the systems and

11:27 from those systems we get the data I

11:29 just mentioned you know to look at the

11:31 customer insights what I love about

11:33 service now and why I really wanted to

11:35 go work for them is what they're doing

11:36 with AI in terms of looking at the

11:38 workflows because I've always told

11:40 people whenever they said oh my wow

11:42 you're in technology that must be so

11:43 difficult well how do you do it all

11:45 technology does is automate a business

11:48 workflow so if you think about the

11:49 property management systems and and

11:51 Hospitality before there was a property

11:53 management system you signed a

11:54 registration card they gave you a

11:56 physical key you paid cash and you went

11:58 to your room and you turned the key and

12:00 the door opened um you used to go to a

12:01 restaurant and someone would write down

12:03 something on a piece of paper they'd

12:04 stick it on a little wheel spin it

12:05 around and guess what your meal got made

12:07 and delivered to you there was no

12:09 technology involved but automating those

12:12 systems increases the scale it gives you

12:15 data about what's happening about the

12:17 customer and what I loved about service

12:19 now is they really looked at the whole

12:20 workflows and and and how it can affect

12:23 customers and and operations and

12:26 employee experiences and taking away

12:29 these unnecessary steps that can

12:31 actually cause problems also using Ai

12:34 and decisionmaking to make things go

12:36 quicker and to give you insights to make

12:39 Corrections and so you know service now

12:41 really started in the it field in terms

12:44 of the service desk and asset management

12:46 and it operations and you give service

12:48 now the information they can get from

12:50 juniper and marbus and you can create a

12:52 resilient Network that autocorrects that

12:55 does self upgrades that self-heals and

12:58 going back to that conversation about

13:00 how horrible it is to be a a employee or

13:03 a customer when something doesn't work

13:05 you can't do your job or can't enjoy the

13:06 resort imagine that self-healing because

13:09 you have that intelligence you have that

13:11 Ai and you have that proactive

13:13 resiliency that keeps everything running

13:16 because we all know now whether it's

13:18 wired through mist or Wireless W

13:20 Wireless through mist or wired through

13:22 Juniper we all know if that Network's

13:24 not up and those Services aren't running

13:25 on top of it it's a it's it's an

13:28 nonstarter I think John I mean I think

13:30 you always always shared this user

13:31 experience I mean ever since I've known

13:33 you it's been all about the guest

13:35 experience you know look at missed all

13:36 about the user experience you know so I

13:38 feel like our path is maybe Crossing

13:40 again here but maybe to wrap up this

13:42 session you know what has got you most

13:44 excited on AI and guest experience

13:47 employee experience you know where do

13:49 you think service now and AI is going to

13:51 really make a difference here I think

13:53 removing these complex operations into

13:57 simple tasks you know enabling not just

14:01 um employees and customers but again at

14:03 service now we have we have a low you

14:05 know low code development we have we we

14:08 enable customers to become citizens

14:10 developers so when you know some of the

14:12 best ideas come from your Frontline

14:14 employees they just do they work with

14:16 the customers every day they understand

14:18 the challenges and when you can give uh

14:21 an employee you know you can give them

14:23 the ability to develop a workflow to

14:25 improve a service for a customer it's

14:28 it's it is absolutely worth it's weight

14:30 and gold I mean you can't do anything

14:32 better than having the people on the

14:34 front line who are working really hard

14:36 to deliver the service to actually

14:38 improve your hospitality experience or

14:41 or your company experience or your

14:43 company service offering and so if you

14:45 can let that happen and let them do it

14:47 in a reliable way which is what service

14:48 now does I think it's wonderful and you

14:50 think about how you can Empower you know

14:53 the the it professionals that work with

14:55 the Juniper Networks that work with mist

14:57 and are getting those insights and

14:59 Empower them to do upgrades via you know

15:01 a service now portal you know so that

15:03 they don't have to do complex things in

15:04 multiple places they can have one

15:06 control pain have one insights and they

15:09 can run their you know run their

15:11 business for for their company it's it's

15:13 magical you know John I want to thank

15:15 you for joining this session of B Friday

15:17 talks and to the audience I want to

15:19 thank you for joining the special

15:20 session in Vegas and for those

15:22 interested please check out the links

15:23 below and look forward to seeing you on

15:25 the next one

15:30 [Music]