It’s the age of the robots. But not for all businesses it seems.

McKenzie (2017) recently conducted a study of Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption across 3,000 company executives, and found that travel and tourism businesses are struggling to reap the benefits of AI and machine learning technology.

Sectors such as telecom, tech, energy, and automotive are unsurprisingly racing ahead, with an average of 30% businesses in these sectors implementing multiple AI technologies to improve their business.

But it’s the travel industry which falls far behind, with only 9% of hotels, resorts, and tour operators embracing AI and machine learning to help reduce costs, increase revenue, and boost their profits.

So why the lack of enthusiasm?

Perhaps it’s the sunshine? Or the laid-back culture of tourism? Whatever it is, something is causing travel companies to shy away from the robots.

But it doesn’t need to be that way.

Machine learning is no longer a big fad for for big companies with big budgets. It’s incredibly accessible to even the smallest of hotels, resorts, and tour operators in Australia. The hardest part is taking that first step.

And what better place to start?

Google AdWords

Any hotel, resort, or tour operator running Google Ad campaigns can benefit from machine learning to reduce  costs, increase sales, and boost their profits from AdWords.

If you’re currently running Google AdWords campaigns, chances are you’re sitting on a gold mine of incredibly useful data. A gold mine which shows every search typed into Google before users clicked on your ads, and whether they turned into an enquiry or sale. A gold mine of insight which can be used to predict the likelihood of any search query you choose being profitable for your business.

Using Google’s new AutoML platform (a simple drag-and-drop interface released in July 2018), you can now simply upload your keyword data and let Google’s neural networks do the heavy lifting.

Don’t get left behind

Simply export your search query data to Excel, mark which searches have been profitable, upload the spreadsheet to AutoML, and congratulations!

You now have a custom machine learning model unique to your business. A model which predicts the likelihood of any new search query you throw at it being profitable.

A model which allows you to research new keywords, predict their profitability, and adjust bids accordingly. A model which allows you to identify wastage, expand your negative keywords, and reduce your costs. A model which allows you to categorisation keywords by theme, create highly-targeted ad messaging, and boost your CTR and conversion rates overnight.

Incredibly powerful technology which will push your AdWords campaigns 5 years into the future.

So what are you waiting for?

The time is now. Embrace machine learning technology and increase your AdWords profitability today.