Digital Labour: Rethinking Work in Hospitality
Stanislav Ivanov reframes the automation debate by shifting the unit of analysis from jobs to tasks — and in doing so, arrives at conclusions that challenge common assumptions. Physical tasks, he argues, are often harder to automate than cognitive ones, which means low-paid housekeepers may be safer from replacement than high-paid marketing managers, and the future of hospitality labour is not fewer people but differently assembled teams...
Technology is changing not only the guest journey but also labour in hospitality. Hospitality managers are no longer deciding only how many employees they need; they are deciding which tasks should be performed by people, software, kiosks, robots, and collaborative teams of humans and autonomous agents. The central managerial question is not whether work will change, because it already has, but how to redesign work so that robots, artificial intelligence and automation technologies improve productivity, service quality and employee wellbeing at the same time.
Hospitality jobs are often discussed as if they were indivisible. In reality, every job consists of tasks. Some tasks are cognitive, such as analysing data, answering routine questions, writing marketing copy, or setting prices. Others are physical, such as cleaning a room, delivering a room service order, carrying linen or maintaining equipment. This distinction matters because technologies do not automate entire jobs in one stroke. They automate, augment or transform particular tasks first, and only then affect the job as a whole.
The Hotel Yearbook 2026 - Technology Edition
The 2026 HOTEL Yearbook Technology Edition - AI Everywhere is fully geared towards AI and explores how hospitality technology is preparing for a decade of profound change. With a clear focus on practical impact rather than hype, this edition examines how intelligence is becoming embedded across the hotel technology stack and day-to-day workflows, reshaping operations, revenue, distribution, guest experience, and the back office.
The publication will feature 40 editorial articles by domain experts, combined with a catalog of AI Solution Snapshots, offering readers both strategic insight and a curated overview of AI products currently available to the market, as well as an AI Glossary - a glossary of the most commonly used AI-related terms in hospitality. It brings together a wide spectrum of contributors, including academics, startups, hotel brands, established solution providers, and industry insiders, offering evidence-led perspectives, real-world lessons, and actionable guidance on what hoteliers should prioritize now to stay competitive in an AI-driven future. The publication will launch at HITEC 2026, San Antonio.