KT Corp opened its first hotel in the country offering AI-assisted room services in Seoul, Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun Hotels & Residences.
KT Corp, South Korea’s largest telecommunications company, is pioneering a new artificial intelligence (AI) technology — this time in the hospitality industry.
KT Corp opened its first hotel in the country offering AI-assisted room services in Seoul, Novotel Ambassador Seoul Dongdaemun Hotels & Residences. "We have created a hotel with an entirely innovative concept by converging KT's latest technologies and luxury hotel service," KT Estate CEO Choi Il-Sung said. "At our AI hotel, people can experience new services that cannot be found at any other hotels around the world."
Here’s what Choi was referring to: the new AI service platform — known as GiGA Genie Hotel — is a customisation of GiGA Genie, the world’s first AI-powered smart home media hub developed by KT way back in January 2017. With more than one million subscribers, KT’s voice-activated AI platform allows users to see what they command on touch screen devices or UHD television screens in Korean and English.
The AI-powered hotel is not short on the usual amenities either. lt has 523 rooms, a rooftop swimming pool and several well-placed F&B outlets, including the all-day Food Exchange, a lounge bar, as well as a poolside bar.
To diversify its future revenue portfolio, KT also plans to provide its AI platform to other hotels, including Marriott. The first hotel to adopt the platform was L'Escape, a boutique hotel opened by South Korean retail group Shinsegae Inc. in downtown Seoul last month. Beyond hotels, the Genie platform can also be used in apartments, resorts and even hospitals.
Going forward, the company plans to open three more similar hotels across the capital city by 2020 in partnership with major global hotel chains such as Accor, Hyatt and Marriott.