If you’ve been following my show or reading my blog posts, you know that technology is something I’m passionate about. I’ve been in the accommodation industry for a while now, so I wouldn’t exactly consider myself someone who is completely addicted to tech, but I realise its usefulness.

My latest guest is Brad Illich, founder of NewBook. If you don’t know, NewBook is a cloud-based online reservation and management system for the hospitality industry. Since their inception in 2010, they’ve helped change how hotels, resorts and other accommodation-based businesses conduct their operations.

Now Brad is working on some incredible things. He has an app that his company just launched that, instead of rejecting tech-based services like Airbnb (you know who you are), looks to emulate it for the younger audience.

What does that mean?

Brad told me that 50% of people booking worldwide are under 40. This is the Uber and Airbnb crowd, the generation that is hitched to their phones and would rather interact via chat messenger than see a real receptionist.

Say what you will about how the world is moving. But stick your head in the sand and you’re going to fall behind. Your business will suffer as well.

This app that Brad and his team are developing completely automates the entire booking process. Users can check in, pay and leave reviews for destinations all through the app.

Pretty cool, right? Even cooler, Brad and his company are developing a system based on artificial intelligence. Called the NEW.B.I.E AI, the technology takes the human element out of booking. If a guest is interested in a property, they can ask questions about local attractions, pricing and booking availability all with a virtual chat assistant.

I know — you’re probably thinking, “Great, we already interact with people so infrequently. Why do we need more robots in our lives?”

But Brad made some interesting points. The work that the AI is doing is incredibly tedious and tasks that humans generally hate doing. Picking up the phone, answering repeat questions and managing emails and requests.

What if your staff members could spend more time actually interacting with guests — getting out there and spending time with them and making them feel at home — than sitting at a desk and doing robotic tasks.

Why not leave robotic tasks to the robots?

I’m all on board for these sorts of technologies. 10 years ago, people were terrified to use cloud-based services. The fact that they couldn’t see their information scared them. Now, the cloud is the norm.

The fact is that technology is changing rapidly. We’re allowed to be sceptical, but ignoring advances in technology will hurt you in the long run. If you want your business to be competitive, frankly, you’ll have to get on board.

Listen to my entire conversation with Brad here.