Historic Atami Inn 'Furuya Ryokan' Expands AI Adoption with Gemini for All Staff

Furuya Ryokan (Atami City, Shizuoka Prefecture; Representative Director: Soichiro Uchida), an historic hot spring inn founded in 1806, has announced a company-wide expansion of its generative AI technology. Building on its existing digital foundation, the ryokan has provided individual Google accounts to all staff—excluding some part-time employees—to implement secure, enterprise-grade generative AI (Gemini) to accelerate business operations.

The inn has previously promoted digital transformation (DX) within the hospitality industry through self-produced video manuals and specialized SaaS tools. For over a year, the company has integrated generative AI into practical tasks, achieving significant results in areas like staff scheduling and demand forecasting. This initiative represents the next step in applying the benefits of AI-driven efficiency and creativity to all core frontline staff.

Background and Objectives: Scaling AI Success

The origins of AI use at the inn lie in optimizing the staff scheduling process, which was previously a heavy burden. Traditionally, scheduling involved complex work patterns and took veteran staff about two weeks. By introducing an AI-driven scheduling system, the task is now completed by employees in their third month in about an hour.

Over the past year, the inn has also utilized AI as an essential partner in generating new product ideas for its pastry brand. Building on these successes, the management decided to scale AI use across the company, aiming to integrate institutional knowledge stored in video manuals and systems to accelerate work speeds for all staff.

Rigorous Risk Management and Training

Deployment of generative AI entails risk management, specifically regarding data leaks. The inn has established a secure enterprise environment where input data is not used for AI training. Furthermore, all staff members underwent training on AI fundamentals and the avoidance of information leakage. The company shares clear rules for handling personal and confidential information, ensuring all staff can use technology safely.

Concrete Improvements with 'Gemini Enterprise'

- Instant retrieval and application of institutional knowledge: Staff can consult with AI to speed up daily tasks such as handling inbound guest requests or drafting responses to urgent reservation changes. Even less experienced staff can now make decisions with the speed of veterans.

- Breaking down language barriers: For diverse inquiries from overseas, including complex dietary requests, Gemini provides accurate, nuanced drafts in multiple languages instantly, minimizing guest wait times.

- Reducing administrative work to focus on hospitality: AI supports tasks such as summarizing handovers and creating reports, reducing the administrative burden on frontline staff so they can focus more on hospitality.

Representative Director Soichiro Uchida's Comment:

'While distributing accounts and using AI might seem commonplace to large corporations, for us, it is the final step in connecting the digital foundations we have built one step at a time, from video manuals to dramatically shortening shift creation time. We have paid careful attention to risk management, directly conveying the importance of correct usage to all staff. By removing language barriers and administrative tasks through technology, we aim to free up time to provide the human-centric hospitality that only people can offer, and we will continue to challenge ourselves to increase this value.'