AI Experimentation in Hospitality and Beyond: Practical Ideas for Immediate Impact - Chris Kluis

In this episode, Chris Kluis, VP of Product Operations & Data at Actabl, discusses his family's unique history with artificial intelligence, how early curiosity sparked his career journey, and why experimentation matters more than theory. Chris provides practical advice for hospitality professionals looking to start leveraging AI today, shares lessons from implementing AI at scale, and explores how digitization, effective prompting, and careful data management can unlock real business value.We cover:0:00 – Intro01:35 – How it started: Chris’s family history with AI07:33 – What is AI? Definition and how it works09:54 – Use case: AI for advertising11:58 – Starting with personal AI use cases13:43 – Encouraging curiosity and learning14:57 – Personalized podcasts with NotebookLM16:21 – AI podcasts replacing humans?17:21 – Trust and AI19:08 – Importance of “Human in the loop”20:22 – HITEC 2025: AI in hotel tech today23:21 – Can AI expand opportunities?25:36 – Hoteliers: Start by digitizing workflows29:13 – “Treat AI like a new employee”33:17 – Higher-order thinking and AI35:51 – Building repeatable AI systems36:56 – ChatGPT vs Gemini vs other LLMs39:56 – What makes a good AI prompt?41:26 – Juxtaposition of new vs old44:21 – Skills to develop to stay relevant46:18 – Personal and professional next steps49:03 – Voice-powered AI50:50 – Corporate AI policies51:58 – Where Chris learns about AI54:26 – How AI will shape life and work A few more resources:If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here. You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestionsIf you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day, subscribe here for free.Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.If you want to advertise on Hospitality Daily, here are the ways we can work together.If you found this episode interesting or helpful, send it to someone on your team so you can turn the ideas into action and benefit your business and the people you serve!Music for this show is produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands