This dedicated AI in Hospitality section explores how AI is reshaping the industry, from guest communication and marketing personalisation to revenue management, operations, staffing, cybersecurity, and the evolving role of data and automation across the hotel and travel ecosystem. It brings together practical use cases, expert insights, product and partnership news, leadership viewpoints, and real world lessons from properties and brands of all sizes, helping hospitality professionals separate substance from hype and make informed decisions about where AI delivers value today and what to prepare for next.
NVIDIA's OpenClaw and NemoClaw aim to deploy specialized AI agents for hotel operations like guest messaging, RFP processing, and maintenance coordination.
The board includes leaders from major brands and will focus on practical AI applications in commercial performance, meeting monthly to share insights with members.
The travel industry's AI conversation at ITB Berlin 2026 moved beyond hype toward practical maturity and real-world applications.
Study of 2,700 AI queries shows five London luxury hotels captured 57% of AI recommendations, with Google AI Mode routing favouring OTAs over direct booking
Klaus Kohlmayr discusses AI trust challenges and the evolving role of revenue managers in hospitality technology.
Apaleo's founder demonstrates live hotel booking through ChatGPT, with 15-20 hotel groups already deploying AI agents in production.
Hotels are better positioned for the AI era than most people think. They own something no LLM can replicate: years of proprietary guest data and a direct relationship with the customer. That's a genuine competitive moat, and agentic AI is finally what turns it into action.
The takeaway that stays with me isn't about any single technology. It's about what AI can actually do to change the way we experience travel.An example of this was the live demo I gave on stage to change my own flight home - not by calling a helpdesk, not by navigating an app - but by having a natural conversation with an AI agent that handled everything live: rebooking, seat, baggage, transfer all in one simple phone call.The audience went quiet for a moment.
What stood out to me most at ITB Berlin this year was how much the conversation around AI has shifted from theory to real, everyday use. Hoteliers and operators are no longer asking whether AI matters, but where it can make the biggest difference for guests and teams right now.
OpenAI pivoted away from direct commerce checkout after underestimating integration complexity, while AI referrals to retail sites grew 693% year-over-year.
TrustYou's CEO envisions moving from fragmented guest communication to unified conversational AI that maintains context across all channels and touchpoints.
The author draws parallels between García Márquez's novel and how hotels repeatedly face new technology waves, from websites to Google to AI, requiring constant adaptation to remain discoverable.
Lighthouse's new tool aggregates reviews from Booking.com and Expedia with AI-powered response automation to help independent hotels improve visibility on search platforms.
Stripe's James Lemon discusses payment infrastructure challenges in hotels and why AI booking technology is more complex for travel than retail.
The author argues hotels must audit systems and align culture before implementing AI, as technology amplifies existing problems rather than fixing them.
The author argues hotels need strong operational foundations before AI can be effective, as technology amplifies existing processes rather than fixing broken ones.
Brad Brewer will discuss how AI agents are reshaping hotel discovery and booking behavior, urging hoteliers to optimize for AI systems or risk losing guest relationships to intermediaries.
The article examines how AI-powered agentic engineering threatens traditional SaaS business models in travel tech by enabling companies to build custom solutions more efficiently.
AI systems can process geopolitical signals, energy markets, and supply chain data to help hotels adapt quickly to global disruptions and maintain operational resilience.
OpenAI's decision to scale back direct booking in ChatGPT benefits Booking.com by keeping AI platforms in discovery rather than transaction completion.
The guide outlines seven AI applications for hotel sales teams, from automated email personalization to reputation monitoring, with a focus on eliminating repetitive tasks.
The article examines how AI can address labor shortages, cost volatility, and consistency challenges in foodservice, but warns that operational discipline and data quality are prerequisites for success.