How AI is Pushing Past Hotel Guest Personas
AI requires contextual, real-time guest data rather than static personas to deliver effective personalization and capture revenue opportunities.
AI in Hospitality
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.
From browsing to conversation: AI Infrastructure to compete in the new hotel ecosystem
Mirai argues hotels need AI infrastructure designed for conversation in addition to web browsing to compete with OTAs in the new conversational commerce era.
By Pablo Delgado, Managing Partner & CEO America, Mirai
Fliggy goes live with bookings via AI interface
Fliggy's AI bookings surged 800% during Spring Festival, with attraction tickets up 24-fold as consumers shift from AI search to task execution.
Lobby secures USD 2.2M to expand its AI Booking Platform across the travel industry
The startup raised funds from Founderful to expand its AI platform that processes group booking emails in 30 seconds, reducing response times by 75% and boosting conversion rates up to 15%.
Lobby and Founderful
Expert Views (18)
Fergus Boyd, Independent Hospitality Consultant
In a word, no. Websites were designed to entice humans to view, discover, consider, buy. They are heavy with images, HTML, JavaScript, etc. to entice us in and encourage us to dwell. APIs were invented for M2M, machine to machine, transactions.
Juanjo Rodriguez, Founder, The Hotels Network & Chief AI Officer, Lighthouse
Agents will be everywhere, but behind the scenes. Booking agents are a short-term solution; using AI to simulate human behavior is like asking for a faster horse. Agents that behave as people, visiting websites and simulating human behavior (clicking on links, filling forms) are an incredible technological feat, but are a poor solution to most real-word problems: - Agents are very slow, because they have to replicate user paths built for humans- They fail often, because every website they visit is differentThe future will be MCP- and API-based, with agents interacting with those MCP/API.
Ian Millar, Senior Lecturer Hospitality Technology, EHL
Crystal ball time. 5 to 10 years i think we will quite similar to where we are today. the slow pace of change will not change and traditional tech stacks will still be around. lack of motivation to change, contracts and low investment will hinder the change.
Why AI Success in Hotels Now Depends on Measurable Results, Not Momentum
The article argues hotels must shift from AI experimentation to measurable operational improvements, focusing on defined performance targets and consistent system adoption.
By Steven Moore, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Actabl
Putting the AI into the FIFA World Cup
Analysis explores how AI could help coordinate the complex multi-stakeholder ecosystem around World Cup 2026 amid geopolitical tensions, rising costs, and operational fragmentation.
By Terence Ronson, Founder & Managing Director, Pertlink Limited
The AI search shift is here, and the window to act is now
Lighthouse launches Connect AI app in ChatGPT's marketplace, giving hotels direct booking presence in AI conversations that bypass OTAs.
How agentic AI will self-assemble the enterprise stack
The article explores how AI agents will enable continuous, self-optimizing enterprise systems, shifting CIO focus from technology implementation to governance and cultural readiness.
How NVIDIA Is Clawing Its Way Into the Hotel Industry
NVIDIA's OpenClaw and NemoClaw aim to deploy specialized AI agents for hotel operations like guest messaging, RFP processing, and maintenance coordination.
By Terence Ronson, Founder & Managing Director, Pertlink Limited
HSMAI Europe Launches AI Advisory Board
The board includes leaders from major brands and will focus on practical AI applications in commercial performance, meeting monthly to share insights with members.
Beyond the Buzzword - What ITB Berlin 2026 Really Said About AI in Travel
The travel industry's AI conversation at ITB Berlin 2026 moved beyond hype toward practical maturity and real-world applications.
Five London Hotels Capture 57% of AI Recommendations: What a New Study Reveals About AI Travel Distribution
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
By Shamus Smith, Founder, LuxDirect
Decisions You Can Trust: A Conversation with IDeaS at ITB Berlin
Klaus Kohlmayr discusses AI trust challenges and the evolving role of revenue managers in hospitality technology.
Booked in Seconds, Inside ChatGPT: A Conversation with Apaleo at ITB Berlin
Apaleo's founder demonstrates live hotel booking through ChatGPT, with 15-20 hotel groups already deploying AI agents in production.
Expert Views (17)
Matthijs Welle, CEO, Mews
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.
Sergio Golia, Vice President, Strategy, Amadeus IT Group
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.
Uli Pillau, Founder and CEO, Apaleo GmbH
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’s Commerce Repositioning
OpenAI pivoted away from direct commerce checkout after underestimating integration complexity, while AI referrals to retail sites grew 693% year-over-year.
By George Roukas, President, GAIPAN
The Always-Reply Future: A Conversation with TrustYou at ITB Berlin
TrustYou's CEO envisions moving from fragmented guest communication to unified conversational AI that maintains context across all channels and touchpoints.
100 Years of Solitude: AI and Hotel Commercial Optimization
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.
By Vikram Singh, Global Hotel Commercial Leader, Vikram Singh
Lighthouse launches Review Agent to help independent hotels boost OTA rankings and bookings as AI search reshapes travel discovery
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.