AI Adoption in Hospitality: Meet People Where They Are


AI may be rewriting hospitality’s playbook, but the toughest part of adoption is not the software, it is the quiet anxieties it triggers on the front line. By tracing three common fears that surface whenever AI enters the workplace, Lynn Zwibak shows how leaders can turn resistance into readiness and make change something teams help build rather than brace against.
The adoption of new technology based on AI into the hospitality industry is a hot topic right now. We are hearing how organizations are using it for everything from staffing to revenue management, as well as the positive results. These success stories are often followed by a warning that those who don’t embrace these new tools will be left behind.
What is overlooked in this dialogue is the impact of this change on the people who will be using it or affected by it. They are a significant factor in the implementation of a new initiative and need to be brought on board early in the process.
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The Hotel Yearbook 2026 - Annual Edition
The hotel industry in 2026 finds itself at the meeting point of powerful, converging forces: rapid technological
progress, climate urgency, shifting guest expectations, labour market disruption and economic realignment. This
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but by designing integrated strategies that combine digital and human, global and local, automation and empathy. A
large share of this year’s contributions focuses in particular on artificial intelligence and its growing influence across
almost every segment of hospitality, confirming AI as one of the defining themes of this moment. Bringing together
expert voices from around the world, the publication explores strategy, technology, sustainability, finance, asset
management, food and beverage, human resources, design and more, all through the lens of intentional hybridity in
an age of convergence. The message is clear: in 2026, hybridity is no longer optional; it is strategic, and it will be
the leaders who approach it with real intention who shape the future of our industry.
www.hotelyearbook.com/edition/2026.html