Sirma brings connected AI agents to hotel operations as h2c study signals hospitality’s next AI phase

Hotel operations depend on hundreds of small, connected decisions every day: responding to guest requests, coordinating teams, managing bookings and acting on information spread across multiple systems.

As one of the sponsors of h2c’s new AI Opportunity Study 2026: Real Wins for Guests, Staff, and Hotel Operators, Sirma is helping hospitality organizations bring this work together through Sirma.AI Enterprise and its dedicated AI agents, Vela and Marta.

The global research, based on 122 responses from 113 hotel chains, indicates that the industry is moving beyond general-purpose AI tools towards more connected, practical applications. While 91% of surveyed hotel chains already use AI, only 28% report having a company-wide AI strategy led by senior leadership.

AI agents are emerging as a central part of this next phase. Seventy percent of respondents identified proactive AI agents – capable of completing tasks and making decisions – as an area where innovation will emerge over the next two years, joint highest alongside bookings through AI platforms.

There is no shortage of AI demonstrations in hospitality. The harder part is making AI useful in the reality of a hotel: across systems, departments, data and the constant exceptions that make the industry what it is. An agent becomes valuable when it is grounded in that operational context, can take meaningful action, and knows where a human decision must remain in control. Darko Bosancic, SVP Travel & Hospitality, Sirma

Sirma brings more than three decades of enterprise software engineering experience to this challenge, alongside deep travel and hospitality expertise gained through more than 350 projects and connectivity supporting over 6,000 hotels through its managed IFC environment.

Through Sirma.AI Enterprise, Sirma adds an enterprise AI layer to the systems, data and processes hotels already rely on. The platform enables hospitality organizations to build, orchestrate and govern AI agents and workflows around their existing technology landscape without requiring them to replace it with a standalone solution.

Sirma.AI Enterprise supports more than 500 AI models through a secure, governed environment, allowing organizations to select the right model for each task while maintaining control over data, permissions, integrations and human oversight.

Built on this foundation, Vela supports guest and hotel operations, while Marta helps hotel teams access knowledge, coordinate work and act on operational insight. Together, they bring AI into the flow of work – connecting guest interactions, internal knowledge, operational systems and human teams rather than operating as isolated tools.

The study shows clear opportunities for this approach. For staff-facing work, reporting and operational insights ranked as the leading area where hotel organizations see value in allowing AI agents to take autonomous action, cited by 61% of respondents. For guest-facing applications, respondents identified upselling and cross-selling offers (64%), handling booking requests (60%) and responding to guest enquiries (58%) as the areas where agents could create the most value.

However, the findings also show why enterprise readiness matters. Skills and training gaps remain the leading barrier to AI adoption, cited by 56% of respondents, followed by integration challenges with existing systems (38%). For guest-facing autonomous AI, liability in the event of errors (56%), data privacy and security concerns (54%), and guest willingness to share the required personal data (53%) were the leading concerns.

“Agentic AI is not about removing people from hospitality. It is about removing friction: the repetitive searching, chasing, copying and coordinating that gets in the way of good service,” Bosancic added. “For that to work at scale, the AI layer has to be integrated, governed and built on a real understanding of the industry.”

With 91% of respondents expecting AI investment to increase over the next 12 months, the opportunity for hospitality is not simply to introduce more AI tools, but to build the data foundations, governance and operational connections that allow AI to create lasting value.

Learn more about Sirma.AI Enterprise, Vela and Marta.

About h2c’s AI Opportunity Study 2026

h2c’s AI Opportunity Study 2026: Real Wins for Guests, Staff, and Hotel Operators examines AI adoption, implementation models, business outcomes, barriers, AI agents, data readiness and future technology priorities among hotel chains worldwide. The independent research is based on 122 responses from 113 unique hotel chains, including 101 online surveys and 21 executive interviews, and incorporates 230 implemented AI use cases shared by participating organizations. Sirma Travel & Hospitality is one of the study’s eight sponsors. The public Hotel Chain Tech Report is available to download from h2c.de.

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