Despite P(doom), Hoteliers Are All In on AI

“The future of hospitality is here,” read a sign on the main stage at the third annual Destination AI Summit held in Washington, D.C., this week. Despite recent calls to slow AI development and strengthen regulation to prevent catastrophe, hospitality’s pursuit of lower operating costs and higher NOI pushes on. 

The industry’s brightest minds – owners, operators and AI-driven tech providers – gathered to share predictions and early successes as artificial intelligence reshapes every facet of hospitality. On stage, the future looked increasingly automated: leaner teams, software making operational decisions, and back offices resembling networks of autonomous agents. Hospitality is diving headfirst into AI, even as everyone acknowledges we’re still learning how to swim. 

In the hallways and around cocktail tables during networking receptions, the conversation shifted. 

“What’s your P(doom) score?” one longtime hotel technology leader asked me, referring to someone’s estimated probability that AI will cause an existential catastrophe.  

Privately, we wondered about a world where humans become the second-smartest species. Publicly, we discussed automating accounting and eliminating the front desk.  

Nobody claimed to know what hospitality will look like in five years. That uncertainty was precisely why we gathered: to share early wins, challenge assumptions, and help write the rules while we still can. 

Debating the Future of the Hotel PMS 

One of the most anticipated panels became a spirited debate over who gets to decide how a hotel runs: the hotelier or the technology provider. 

Richard Valtr, founder of Mews, and Adam Harris, CEO of Cloudbeds, described a future in which the PMS grows to become a “hotel operating system” that encompasses payments, labor scheduling, revenue management, business intelligence, etc. Jacob Messina, CEO of Stayntouch, defended a more traditional approach built around open APIs and partnerships. 

“These guys want to tell you how to run your hotel,” Messina said. “We’re going to give you the tools you need to be successful.” 

Messina won the audience vote decisively. My read: His approach resonated because he kept the hotelier in control. Amid competing claims about whose platform would define the future, he positioned technology as serving the operator. 

Valtr embraced a more fundamental overhaul. 

“Most systems today look like Mews,” Valtr said, drawing sighs from his fellow panelists and chuckles from the audience. His vision went well beyond software consolidation: Mews is examining property-level jobs and asking how the work could get done without a human in the loop. Hotel accounting roles, he argued, aren’t hospitality jobs. 

Valtr pointed to moderator Sloan Dean, founder and CEO of the newly launched AI Hospitality Group, whose model pairs an autonomous back office with a human, guest-facing team.  

“I believe what Sloan is building is the future,” he said. “Yes, jobs will be reconfigured. Yes, the way we’ve run hotels for decades will fundamentally change.” 

Real World AI Applications in Hospitality

A panel featuring three women in hotel technology leadership brought the discussion back to what teams can accomplish today. 

“AI allows us to radically change the way we’re using data without much investment,” said Monika Nerger, a technology advisor to global luxury hotels and brands. 

One revenue intelligence example involved feeding PMS, sales and POS reports into Claude to generate recommendations beyond what traditional reports provide. 

Nancy Wolff, senior vice president of technology at Columbia Hospitality, described using documented procedures and prompts to organize spreadsheet information and identify Accounts Payable problems before month-end close. 

“How did they do this? They just rewrote their SOPs,” Wolff said. 

Page Petry, principal of PD Petry Consulting, explored food costs, inventory and menu engineering. AI can flag invoice changes, inform portion adjustments, and analyze reviews to identify dishes guests feel most strongly about. 

The panel urged enterprise access through licensed, private environments, supported by consistent data governance. 

Giving Time Back – and Redefining Jobs 

The operational efficiency discussion offered some of the summit’s boldest predictions. 

Keryn McNamara, chief information officer at Aimbridge Hospitality, described LIFT, its internally developed Labor Insight & Forecasting Tool, which combines labor data and AI-assisted forecasting to support staffing decisions. 

“I have to think about things I can take off my properties, take tasks out of my GM’s hands, and give them time back to focus on the guests,” she said. 

Matt Schwartz, chief technology officer at Sage Hospitality, pictured automation working quietly behind the scenes. 

“It’s not a robot greeting you, it’s a robot walking through the halls while you’re asleep changing filters,” he said. 

But the vision extended beyond task assistance. McNamara predicted the disappearance of the front desk and complete back-office automation. 

“We’re going to be hiring lobby hosts, not GMs,” said Alex Cabañas, executive chairman of Pyramid Global Hospitality. 

These were predictions, but they made the stakes clear: AI could redefine entire jobs. 

Owners Want Timely Data and Measurable Results 

A lively panel of hotel owners and investors explored how AI is democratizing access to data – and why owners are demanding real-time, dynamic information to bring more informed questions to asset managers and operators. 

“We want to be more nimble,” said Raymond Martz, co-president and CFO of Pebblebrook Hotel Trust. “We want real-time data on the bookings. Before, when we got pace data from the management companies, it was already two weeks old.” 

“It needs to be real-time data. Humans are still the bottleneck here,” added Carlos Rodriguez, CEO of Driftwood Capital. 

Rodriguez framed saved labor hours as inventory.  

“When you save hours, you increase inventory. But when you do nothing with it, when you don’t free people up to do other, more impactful things, you just have increased inventory,” he said. 

AI Is Rewriting the Booking Journey 

For Greg Land, Hospitality Lead at Amazon Web Services, and Michael Leidinger, SVP and CIO at Hilton, commerce, distribution, and trip planning were central opportunities. 

Land noted the opportunity for hotels and brands to capitalize on AI search, predicting that by 2030, direct channels could account for 66% of bookings, versus 34% for OTAs.  

Leidinger urged hoteliers to own their content: detailed descriptions and accurate, compelling imagery that help AI understand a property. 

“We have a tremendous opportunity. It’s blowing up everyone’s distribution strategies,” he said. 

Both discussed proactive trip care: agents that respond to disruptions by rearranging travel. That convenience creates new challenges, including more cancellations and rebookings. 

“How do we protect ourselves from abuse of that?” Leidinger asked. 

While nobody knows what hospitality will look like in five years, sharing what we’re learning today gives us a chance to shape the future. 

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