Choi Il-sung, CEO of KT estate, a KT subsidiary dedicated to the real estate business, speaks during a news conference at Novotel Ambassador Hotel and Residence in central Seoul, Wednesday, explaining AI-based services that the hotel, which opened July 3, offers. / Courtesy of KT



By Jun Ji-hye



KT has opened what it claims as a tech-centric hotel in central Seoul that offers artificial intelligence (AI) based features around the clock.



The firm said Wednesday that the Novotel Ambassador Hotel and Residence built at the site of its former Euljiro office in Jung-gu is the first-ever "AI hotel" in the nation.



The hotel that opened July 3 has a total of 523 rooms with Accor Ambassador Korea handling the management.



KT's voice-recognition AI platform Giga Genie is featured at the hotel, enabling guests to control lighting and television as well as air conditioning and heating through voice commands or a touch screen display. Guests can also request amenities such as bath gels using the AI features.



The nation's second-largest mobile carrier said it will continue to enhance its technology to offer AI concierge services to guests. The upcoming services allow guests to check out of the hotel from their room and order room service by voice commands.



The company said its AI hotel system is capable of recognizing English, noting positive responses from foreign guests are expected.



The firm will add Japanese and Chinese to the system by as early as November to attract more foreign guests.



KT will also offer a smartphone, "Genie phone," that guests can pick up at Incheon International Airport or the hotel. Guests can make international or domestic calls, obtain data and get tourist information.



KT has been expanding its hotel business, with real estate sales estimated at about 400 billion won ($355 million) last year.



The firm is seeking to increase the figure to 700 billion won by 2020, KT officials said in a conference call held right after the announcement of their third-quarter performance last year.



The firm's hotel business uses sites of its telephone offices built at prime locations nationwide that are no longer in full use.



KT plans to open three more hotels with advanced technologies in Seoul by 2022, including a hotel brand under Hyatt near Apgujeong Station, scheduled to open next year.



"We will offer a new concept of hotels and services to guests in and outside the country by injecting KT's IT infrastructure," said Choi Il-sung, CEO of KT estate, a subsidiary dedicated to the real estate business, during a news conference. "We will provide tourists with innovative conveniences and new experiences while offering local communities an opportunity for new growth."



The company, which was a public enterprise until the Kim Dae-jung government privatized it in 2002, operated telephone offices around the nation, but the properties have been increasingly merged, with some of them falling into disuse amid the relentless march of technology, which has led to the phasing out of wired telephones.



To develop real estate at the unused properties, the firm set up KT estate in 2010.

