Smart Customer Experience Solutions

Over the years, I've learned that true hospitality entails not just delectable food and a lovely setting, but also consistency, personalization, and attention to detail. From the time a guest arrives until they leave, every interaction counts. Whether you're new to the hospitality industry or creating your own concept, here is my ultimate checklist for creating a memorable guest experience: ✔️ First impressions set the tone The moment a guest walks through your doors is the moment their experience begins. Make it count. Make sure to greet them with a smile, eye contact, and enthusiasm that embodies the character of your venue. Within the first few seconds, people remember how you made them feel. ✔️ Anticipate needs before they ask Good service turns into great service at this point. Is your visitor running low on water? Between courses, has the table been waiting too long? Does a frequent visitor have a preferred seat or dish? Teach your staff to watch and respond before a request is made. Proactive service fosters loyalty and demonstrates concern. ✔️ Perfect the little details Often, the smallest things have the greatest effects. Consider how the lighting changes from day to night, how a napkin is folded, or how the music enhances the atmosphere. A unified, unforgettable atmosphere is produced by these details. Every location is created with the intention of telling a story, and the details are what make the tale come to life. ✔️ A strong team = exceptional service Without an empowered, well-trained, and mission-aligned staff, no venue can succeed. Being a host is a team sport. Make an investment in your people. Celebrate your victories. Openly discuss difficulties. Above all, establish a culture in which each team member takes ownership of the visitor experience because their concern is evident. ✔️ Tech should enhance, not replace hospitality Use technology to make things smoother, not colder. Digital tools and AI can help personalize menus, expedite reservations, and increase operational efficiency, but nothing can replace the human touch. Instead of reducing interaction, use technology to free up more time for your team to spend with guests. ✔️ Guests don’t just choose food, they embrace experiences We are now in the experience business rather than the food industry. People go out to experience celebration, comfort, connection, and excitement. Create moments that transcend the plate by planning your areas, your service, and your narrative. That's what makes a new visitor become a devoted regular. A successful F&B venue is about how you make people feel, not just what's on the menu. That’s the heart of hospitality. What do you think? What else would you include on this list? I would be interested in hearing your viewpoint. #HospitalityExcellence #CustomerExperience #HospitalityChecklist #7Management

AI can significantly enhance efficiency, personalization, & responsiveness, ultimately leading to a better customer experience :- Chatbots & Virtual Assistants: AI-powered chatbots & virtual assistants can handle routine customer inquiries 24/7. They can provide instant responses, answer frequently asked questions, and assist with basic problem-solving, freeing up human agents for more complex issues. Natural Language Processing (NLP): NLP allows AI systems to understand & process human language. AI can analyze customer inquiries to identify sentiment, extract important information, & provide context-aware responses. Personalization: AI can analyze customer data to create personalized experiences. This includes recommending products or services based on past behavior, addressing customers by name, and tailoring content to individual preferences. Predictive Analytics: AI can predict customer behavior & needs by analyzing historical data. This helps companies address issues before a customer even asks for it. Automated Email & Text Responses: AI can automatically categorize and respond to emails & text messages based on predefined criteria. Voice Recognition: AI-driven voice recognition systems can be used in call centers to transcribe and analyze customer-agent conversations. This helps improve agent performance. Sentiment Analysis: AI can analyze customer feedback, reviews, and social media comments to gauge customer sentiment. This information can be used to make improvements in products and services and address negative feedback promptly. Self-Service Portals: AI can power self-service portals that allow customers to find information, track orders, and troubleshoot issues on their own. This reduces the volume of inquiries to human agents. Automated Ticketing and Routing: AI can automatically categorize & prioritize support tickets, ensuring that urgent issues are addressed promptly and assigned to the right team or agent. Knowledge Management: AI can help companies build & maintain extensive knowledge bases by automatically categorizing and tagging content, making it easier for both agents & customers to find information. Emotion Recognition: AI can be used to detect customer emotions during interactions, allowing agents to adjust their approach accordingly & provide empathetic responses. Cross-Channel Consistency: AI can ensure that customer interactions are consistent across various channels (web, mobile, chat, email, phone), providing a seamless experience. Training and Onboarding: AI-driven tools can assist in training and onboarding customer service agents, helping them acquire product knowledge and best practices more efficiently. Quality Assurance: AI can monitor and analyze agent-customer interactions to assess performance, provide feedback, and maintain service quality. Multilingual Support: AI-powered translation and language processing can help companies provide support to customers in multiple languages.

The bigger a restaurant gets, the smaller it needs to act. Consider the simple yet powerful moments: a barista remembering your order, calling you by name, or a friendly drive-thru worker who brightens your tough day with a smile. It’s these gestures that make guests feel valued. This is the “Cheers effect”—the feeling of being a regular, welcomed, and remembered, regardless of how big the business gets. While small restaurants can create this effect organically, technology becomes crucial for larger brands to replicate it. Digital orders allow guests to easily personalize their meals, reducing errors and improving accuracy, enhancing the dining experience. Technologies like VoiceAI in the drive-thru or digital profiles that save favorite orders also add convenience, freeing up staff to focus on genuine human connections. By automating transactional tasks, tech empowers staff to spend more time greeting guests, delivering food, and creating memorable interactions. Even in moments with no direct interaction—like cleaning, packaging orders with care, or ensuring a pristine environment—these details contribute to an overall feeling of being well-cared for. As restaurants scale, the secret is using technology as the foundation to act small. This enables operators to stay true to the hospitality in their DNA, ensuring that every guest, no matter where they are, can feel like a regular.

🚗 AI in Automotive CX: It’s No Longer Optional. For dealerships, AI and Analytics are no longer pilots, they’re at the core of daily operations. The real edge comes from moving beyond reacting to proactively anticipating customer needs. If you’re not doing it yet, you’re already losing customers to those who are. 🔍 Where to Start Unify customer data from websites, social campaigns, WhatsApp, OEM systems, fleet apps, 3rd Party Portals, HubSpot, aftersales etc. (service due dates, NPS feedback). A single view becomes the engine for predictive and personalized journeys. ⚡ Hurdles & Fixes - Data silos can be bridged with a unified CRM layer (e.g., Oracle CX + APIs). - AI accuracy improves when product, sales and CX teams retrain models on real conversations (chatbot accuracy can jump from 40% to 90%). - Tech dependency can be reduced with hybrid AI enterprise CRM for workflows + open-source models fine-tuned on dealership data (e.g., a WhatsApp bot running in-house at a fraction of cost while handling 80% of queries). -Marketing ROI gets clearer with real-time attribution dashboards integrated into CRM. -Contact centers can offload routine queries to AI with smart routing, freeing agents for complex, high-intent opportunities & value-added cases. 📈 The Payoff Dealerships applying AI this way are already seeing: -60% fewer outbound qualification calls -Agents focusing on high-intent customers -Marketing budgets optimized in real time -Contact centers faster and more efficient -Customer experience uplift with quicker responses, personalized offers, and smoother aftersales journeys 🛡️ Guardrails to Keep -Transparency : Be clear when customers are engaging with AI vs. humans, and ensure pricing and offers remain consistent with dealership policies. -Privacy & Trust : Protect customer data, anonymize for training, and comply with privacy regulations. -Human Oversight : Keep final decisions on trade-ins, discounts, financing, and credit approvals human-led. -Localization : Ensure customer-centric bots are aligned with local language and cultural norms. -Fair & Responsible AI : Use AI to enhance journeys (service reminders, predictive maintenance, contact center efficiency) while avoiding bias, unnecessary upsells, or eroding customer trust. 🔑 Takeaway AI isn’t “coming” to automotive retail, it’s here. Dealerships embracing AI across their operations are already seeing measurable gains: -Faster speed-to-lead and higher conversion rates. -Smarter targeting and optimized ROI. -Stronger customer experience and lasting loyalty. #Automotive #CX #AI #DigitalTransformation #Dealerships #Marketing #Aftersales #DataDriven #FutureOfRetail

A Silicon Valley hotel just did what restaurants thought was impossible: Cut costs, keep staff, and make service more human. Here's how they solved the #1 problem in hospitality: Ameswell Hotel in Silicon Valley brought a robot into their restaurant. Not to replace staff. To let staff focus on what actually matters: the guest experience. Restaurants face a clear problem: Costs climb. Staff get pulled everywhere. Food runners sprint to tables, then drop everything for to-go orders. Bartenders leave their station to grab food from the kitchen. Dennis, their F&B director, saw the inefficiency everywhere. Bartenders constantly walking to the kitchen. "Before, the bartender had to go to the kitchen to get their food." Now the robot handles it. Bartender stays put. They named their T10 robot "Optimus Dine." Dennis came up with it and won the internal contest. Staff were skeptical at first. Then they got it. Parallel operations changed everything. Food runner takes dishes to the table while the robot runs to-go orders. Before: one thing at a time. Now: both happen together. Large groups? Even better. Server focuses on the table. Runner brings food. Robot follows right behind with more dishes. Result: faster delivery, warmer food, happier customers. Guest reaction caught them off guard. Kids love it. But adults? They started taking selfies with it. Valentine's Day, they programmed hearts on the display. One guest said: "It's so Silicon Valley." The marketing value kept growing. The operational gains were real: • Bartenders stay at their stations • Servers spend more time with guests • Tasks happen simultaneously No staff cuts, just better use of people. Simone, from hotel management, was clear: "We introduced the robot not to take away someone's job or cut hours. It was really to enhance the service, make it a notch better, faster." They're already thinking bigger. Future capabilities they want: autonomous table recognition, clearing without programming, describing dishes during delivery. Even roaming receptions with appetizers. Their core principle stays the same: automate the repetitive stuff. Let humans do what they're good at. "Just do the right amount of automation so the human can focus more on guest experience." What Ameswell proved is bigger than hospitality. The future of robotics isn't humanoid waiters, it's invisible infrastructure. Machines quietly taking repetitive load off humans so people can focus on meaning, not motion. That's the real promise of robotics: amplification, not replacement. At RobotLAB.com, we've seen this work across hospitality, retail, and logistics. The best robots enhance what humans do rather than replace them. We can show you exactly how to implement this.

Chefs.....The Brand Ambassadors The role of the chef extends far beyond the kitchen, as their presence in the dining area can significantly enhance the overall guest experience. When chefs engage directly with guests, whether by serving food or attending to the table, it creates a personalized connection that strengthens the dining experience. This practice should be actively encouraged by restaurant management, as it not only adds a layer of hospitality but also helps build trust and satisfaction. Having the chef interact with guests fosters a sense of authenticity and transparency, making the dining experience more memorable. When guests can directly communicate their preferences or concerns to the chef at the table, it allows for immediate resolution, ensuring that any issues are addressed promptly. This proactive approach can prevent dissatisfaction from escalating and demonstrates a commitment to guest satisfaction. Moreover, such engagement reflects positively on the restaurant's brand value, highlighting a dedication to service excellence. When a chef is seen actively involved in the guest's journey, from the kitchen to the table, it elevates the perception of the establishment, showcasing a culture of pride in both culinary craft and customer care. Management should make it a practice to have chefs attend tables regularly, ensuring that every guest feels valued and their dining experience is elevated. Ultimately, this connection between the chef and guest not only enhances customer satisfaction but also strengthens brand loyalty and enhances the reputation of the establishment.

“𝗜𝗳 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗧𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗪𝗮𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗚𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗔𝘀𝗸 — 𝗬𝗼𝘂’𝘃𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗙𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗱.” I sat in a dining room that looked flawless. Polished glasses. Perfect linens. Smiles at every table. And yet—something broke in the silence. A guest with celiac disease asked for gluten-free bread. The server smiled politely, checked, disappeared, checked again, disappeared… until 18 minutes later, rice crackers arrived on a silver plate. No one was rude. No one broke policy. But the message was clear: “𝘞𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶.” That’s when it hit me: 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘃𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗵 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗿𝘂𝘀𝘁. Because by the time a guest has to ask, the magic is already gone. From that day forward, I set a new rule: anticipation is the standard. ● Train staff to 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝘀 — a tone of voice, a small hesitation, a repeat name in a booking. ● 𝗥𝗲𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗲 𝗴𝘂𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗷𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝘆𝘀 like a stage play—mobility needs, dietary requests, family rituals. ● 𝗣𝗿𝗲-𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 so fixes are instant, not invented under pressure. ● 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗳𝗳 to act on foresight without begging approval. Here’s the truth: 𝗵𝗼𝘀𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺𝘀. 𝗜𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲. And silence comes when staff are trained to wait instead of notice. Guests don’t measure luxury by marble or menus. They measure it in the half-second where care arrives before they knew they needed it. 👉 What’s one anticipatory touch in your property that your guests never forget? #HospitalityLeadership #GuestExperience #LuxuryHotelManagement #ServiceExcellence #OperationalExcellence #ZenithHospitality

Toast, Uber Eats, and DoorDash are all betting on AI, and restaurant operators should pay attention. AI isn’t coming to restaurants. It’s already here. At the 2025 National Restaurant Association Show, the most talked-about tech all had one thing in common: AI at the core. Here’s what stood out: 1. Toast launched Toast IQ, an AI-powered POS for front-of-house operations. It includes Menu Upsell for real-time upgrade suggestions, Digital Chits that highlight guest preferences, and Shifts at a Glance for quick updates on specials and stock levels. 2. Uber Eats and OpenTable are teaming up to streamline reservations and delivery into a single experience. Guests can browse a menu, book a table, or place an order from one app. For staff, that means fewer no-shows and fewer systems to manage during busy hours. 3. DoorDash rolled out AI vision technology to reduce fraud and improve order accuracy. It monitors prep and packing stations in real time, flags inconsistencies, and helps ensure the right food reaches the right guest. These tools are transforming the guest experience with smarter ordering, better flow, and fewer missed steps on the floor. But as front-of-house becomes more automated, it’s clear that back-of-house still has catching up to do. Hiring, onboarding, scheduling, and team communication are still largely manual. That’s where the next wave of restaurant innovation is heading. Because AI isn’t just about what the guest sees. It’s about helping operators run stronger, more efficient teams, from the front to the back of house.

🛠️ 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐨𝐫, 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐜𝐤 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐜𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐭𝐨𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐥𝐩. You can have the most powerful AI model in the world — but if OEMs can’t see dealer inventory, the dealer doesn’t receive machine alerts, and the technician still works off a clipboard… …the machine won’t move. We see it every day: 🚜 A harvester stuck in the field, while the part it needs is sitting unused — one region over 🚛 A truck flagged a failure code days ago — but no one caught it 🧰 A technician was free yesterday — but the job only came in today Here’s the truth: AI cannot solve fragmentation, lack of visibility, and manual processes. Before AI can run, the system needs to walk. At ClearOps, we believe deeply in the power of AI. But we believe just as strongly in the crawl, walk, run principle: 🔹 Crawl: Get the right data flowing between OEMs, dealers, and machines 🔹 Walk: Digitize and automate the core processes — inventory, service, planning 🔹 Run: Apply AI to optimize everything — continuously, intelligently, predictively That’s what we’re building. A digital backbone for aftersales that turns disconnected networks into self-optimizing service ecosystems. And once that’s in place? The future of aftersales becomes very real: ⚙️ Parts are always where they need to be — before they’re needed 🧑🔧 Technicians show up before the customer notices an issue 📈 Dealer inventory adjusts automatically based on machine signals 🔍 OEMs detect design flaws or regional patterns before they become systemic 🤖 Manual tasks disappear — planning, ordering, scheduling all happen in the background We don’t just want to reduce downtime. We want to create a world where machines never stop, technicians are always one step ahead, and OEMs and dealers grow together through data-driven excellence.

I recently had a conversation with Leah Clark at Valuize around their Digital Success Maturity Model and how many companies today are struggling to get off the starting block. Within Digital Success, leaders emerge based on how effectively companies communicate and tailor personalized experiences. While email and webinars seem to be the go to for most companies dabbling in digital, many are hesitating to dive into more advanced solutions like self-service portals and use of AI. Contrary to common belief, these technologies not only enhance the customer experience but also provide simpler paths to success. Constructing email journeys demands clean data across usage, contacts, renewal information, coupled with precise triggers to engage customers at the right time, with little reward. On the flip side, with Self-Service destinations, you can effortlessly direct customers to that destination, utilizing notably simpler methods to craft dynamic and intricate journeys all in one place. Not only does this allow for 10x-ing your journey creation process but it enables new data sources and methods for measuring key conversion metrics. Waiting too long might mean missed opportunities for rapid scale. I challenge you to get creative and look at your existing inbound resources to enable fast and efficient models and journeys to get customers to what matters most. Consider tools like:  💡 Community or other portals to be your one stop shop for ALL services needs  💡 Personalized always-on guide and assistant 💡 Dynamic self-serve onboarding and adoption journeys 💡 Recommended content, events, and features 💡 Efficient routing for personalized frontline support Don't let fear of complexity hold you back. Look for opportunities to scale quickly and stay ahead in the digital game!  Also if you haven’t checked out Valuize’s digital maturity model check it out: https://lnkd.in/guvwT4PM.  #DigitalSuccess #CustomerExperience #TechLeadership #CustomerSuccess