How to Build Unique Customer Experiences for Hospitality with Facial Recognition Technology

Self-service is becoming more and more of an industry standard in the hospitality field, with self-service kiosks popping up everywhere from airports to restaurants. In the hotel industry, in particular, self-service tools make it possible for customers to enjoy a truly streamlined, relaxing, and luxurious experience, whether they're on vacation or traveling for business. However, one major roadblock stands in the way of effective self-service: identity verification. Customers often have to go through tedious steps to confirm their identities and proceed with their stays, which is why innovative hospitality professionals are always searching for ways to simplify this process.

Emerging AI facial recognition technology is now making it possible for guests to effortlessly check in to any establishment. The FaceMe^® facial recognition engine leverages AI to securely manage guest access at self-service stations. By simply looking into a camera, they can verify their identity, access their account, check into their room, and be on their way to an enjoyable visit. Below, we break down the benefits of implementing facial recognition solutions in the hospitality industry, use cases, as well as some key considerations, and recommendations to ensure successful deployments.

What is Facial Recognition?

Facial recognition is one of the most widely adopted biometric verification technologies today. It works by using artificial intelligence (AI) and cameras to recognize and verify identity. Modern facial recognition systems use hundreds of facial vectors, or feature template measurements, to ensure maximum accuracy. As a result, hospitality businesses can use facial recognition to reliably verify their customers' identities in mere moments, creating frictionless self-service processes that improve the user experience.

Thanks to its easy deployment and inherent accuracy, speed, and anti-spoofing qualities, AI-powered facial recognition has gained momentum in the 2020s, and to illustrate its wide range of practical industry applications, we have published an article highlighting the Top 5 Use Cases for Facial Recognition in 2025.

The Power of Facial Recognition Technology in Hospitality

Facial recognition technology has wide applications in the hospitality industry, but it has extra significance when it comes to enhancing the customer experience. When customers use self-service stations or apps with facial recognition technology, they verify their identities, access their member benefits, and retrieve room key cards by simply looking into a camera. Customers in loyalty programs will enjoy a streamlined experience as facial recognition verifies their identities to pull up their accounts. And during the checkout process, facial recognition can pull up their details for final payment instead of having to tediously sign in to their accounts or enter repetitive information.

In a hospitality business where guests are registered with the facial recognition system, there are several opportunities to offer personalized information and additional services to these customers, based upon their demographics and prior booking history. Loyalty programs are one of the most popular methods to encourage enrollments and to optimize the relationship with any particular customer, and facial recognition interfaces make it easy for customers to connect to their member accounts.

For unregistered guests, facial recognition systems can still be beneficial. For example, Advantech adopted facial recognition into its FaceView Industrial app and offered valuable data such as visitor flow statistics, so kiosks and digital signage output could be adapted to reflect visitor demographics including age and gender.

Examples of Facial Recognition in Hospitality

Facial recognition is making an impact across the hospitality industry and has use cases in any environment where a customer may need to access an account or leverage loyalty benefits. Here are just two examples:

• Hotels: The Marriott Hotel is one of the international brands that began implementing facial recognition-based self-check-in kiosks in the Far East as early as 2018. The Mitsui Hotels chain in Japan started to adopt systems in 2020, with similar AI-based kiosks and robot assistants becoming increasingly popular in Taiwan.
• Restaurants: Eateries can implement customer loyalty programs, backed by facial recognition, using similar methods to those that have been established by retailers. Where retail customers' favorite brands, designs, and colors can be recalled by smart retail systems, in restaurants data about a client's favorite foods, usual choice of drink, and any allergies can be highlighted to the restaurant staff. As well as being used to surface endless customer knowledge options, facial recognition can also be used for food and beverage ordering kiosks, as well as payments or billing.

Choosing the Right Facial Recognition Software for Your Hotel or Restaurant

When designing a facial recognition system for the hospitality sector, you need to consider your goals and the seven success factors for choosing the best facial recognition solution.

Accuracy

To provide the best possible experience, facial recognition needs to be completely accurate. If the technology misidentifies a guest, it could actually exasperate the check-in roadblocks it's designed to avoid. Accurate systems allow guests to access their accounts effortlessly, while also reassuring them of the privacy of their information. CyberLink's FaceMe® facial recognition engine has been independently verified by the United States National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), achieving a True Acceptance Rate (TAR) of 99.83% accurate in their latest Facial Recognition Technology Evaluation (FRTE).

Features

Certain features such as facial recognition with face masks, anti-spoofing, and group classification are crucial for providing a frictionless experience for your guests.

• Facial recognition with face masks: CyberLink's FaceMe^® can achieve a 98.21% TAR when individuals are wearing masks. Customers can leave them on if they prefer.
• Anti-spoofing: To ensure maximum security, you'll also need to have anti-spoofing features to protect your customers' sensitive details safe, and building critical trust with your guests. FaceMe^® has passed the stringent independent ISO PAD (Presentation Attack Detection) iBeta Level 2 anti-spoofing tests, meaning that individuals couldn't fool or otherwise bypass the deep learning reinforced facial recognition algorithm using 2D (photos, videos) or 3D (masks, dummies) techniques – even with full access to the person whose ID they were trying to 'steal'.
• Group classification: The engine is capable of recognizing and categorizing guests separately from employees, controlling access to appropriate areas for each set of people at specific times.

Performance

Overall system performance is an essential factor in hospitality installations. In a hotel or cruise ship, there may be several hundred to several thousand guests wanting to gain access to facilities at similar times.

Solutions like FaceMe^® are scalable and work across multiple computer architectures. For the utmost performance in facial recognition, installers can choose multiple fast 3D imaging cameras, with AI processing handled by dedicated GPU-accelerated server(s). FaceMe^® isn't limited to Intel / x86 chipset compatibility; this facial recognition engine can also run on a multitude of platforms, including SoCs from the likes of Qualcomm, MediaTek and Broadcom, as well as on operating systems as diverse as Windows, Android, Apple iOS and Linux.

Device and Hardware Support

Your facial recognition systems need to be fully compatible with your existing tech infrastructure. Look for options that work with the operating systems and devices you already use. If you plan to offer mobile support to streamline authentication, keep in mind that the tech should also be able to work with your customers' mobile devices, whether they use iOS or Android. For example, FaceMe^® is designed to work with multiple operating systems, offers both on-premise and cloud support, and is also compatible with iOS and Android mobile devices, providing optimal versatility for you and your customers.

Software and SDK Flexibility

When considering different facial recognition solutions for your hospitality business you will find there are some solutions that are plug-and-play for use cases similar to your own. This is a convenient and quick way to set up a workable system; however, for using facial recognition in your own hospitality apps for web or smartphone platforms, a solution vendor-supplied SDK (Software Development Kit) allows easy integration and development to meet your exact needs. Thus, for businesses with niche markets, or perhaps a particular style or approach to business, using a cross-platform facial recognition SDK, like FaceMe^® SDK, is highly desirable.

Costs

Each use case will have upfront costs, such as smart locks for guest room doors and kiosk integrations, and recurring costs, like software licensing and electricity usage.

Once you've determined the most important elements for your deployment, you can select solutions that meet these unique standards. FaceMe^® is an industry-leading solution developed for high flexibility and accuracy, allowing you to mold it for each use case's individual needs.

What Facial Recognition Solution is Best for Hospitality?

With its high accuracy, flexibility, and optimization, FaceMe^® is the premier choice for integration across systems and settings in the hospitality sector. It is available as a fully customizable facial recognition SDK to incorporate into a self-service kiosk, or as a facial recognition platform to host on a server or in the cloud.

Elevating Guest Experiences with Facial Recognition Today

From hotels to restaurants, lodging to recreation, facial recognition is creating amazing experiences for customers. It removes tedious steps from several customer experiences, minimizing the more stressful and challenging elements of the hospitality industry. Thanks to highly accurate and flexible facial recognition solutions like FaceMe^®, check-ins are more streamlined and payments are faster, so your guests can maximize their enjoyment and their time. Explore FaceMe^®'s full capabilities to learn more about why leading industries are choosing FaceMe^® as their top facial recognition solution.

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