AI Adoption Is Accelerating. Here’s How Hotels Are Keeping Pace
Catherine Donaldson takes a decidedly practical approach, moving past the philosophical debates about AI in hospitality to focus on where it is already delivering measurable results today. From AI voice agents answering calls around the clock to agentic workflows that coordinate operations without manual handoffs, she maps five proven use cases and makes the case that the performance gap between adopters and laggards is already widening.
The verdict is in: AI is creating major gains in hospitality. Seventy-one percent of hoteliers say AI is already having a major impact on their operations, up 10 percentage points from the year prior. Over 80% of hoteliers plan to increase adoption across their operations, with only 1% anticipating pulling back (Canary Technologies, 2026).
For hotels still on the sidelines, the performance gap is only widening. Here's where AI is already working in hospitality: the proven use cases, the measurable results, and how agentic automation is helping real hoteliers right now.
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.