Three things every hotel GM should know before taking their first steps with AI

If I had to give hotel General Managers just three pieces of advice, they would be these:

1. Start with business problems, not AI

The first question should not be, “How do we use AI?” It should be, “Which problems are we trying to solve?”

The most successful AI projects do not begin with technology. They begin with operational friction: long response times, repetitive guest questions, overloaded front desks, missed booking opportunities or manual processes.

AI should make hotel teams more effective, not simply add another system for them to manage. Start with a specific problem, measure the impact and expand from there.

2. Don’t add an AI layer. Build an AI-ready ecosystem.

This is where many hotels risk making a costly mistake.

Adding an AI chatbot or assistant on top of disconnected systems may create an impressive conversation, but it rarely creates real value. If AI cannot access the hotel’s central knowledge, check real-time availability, recognise loyal guests, modify reservations or complete transactions, it quickly becomes another information channel that still requires staff intervention.

The real opportunity is not to buy more AI tools. It is to ensure that the hotel’s existing technology ecosystem is ready for AI.

That means having a reliable source of truth for hotel knowledge, choosing partners that can connect AI with existing systems and transactional capabilities, and favouring integrated solutions over isolated point products.

Before selecting an AI vendor, General Managers should ask a simple question: can this solution actually work with our knowledge, systems and operational capabilities, or will it become another disconnected tool?

The hotels that succeed will not necessarily be those using the most AI. They will be those whose technology stack allows AI to act, not just answer.

3. Treat AI as your next distribution channel

Most hoteliers still see AI primarily as an operational tool. They should also start seeing it as a commercial and distribution channel.

Guests are already beginning to discover and compare hotels through AI assistants, and booking will be the natural next step. Just as hotels had to adapt to websites, search engines and OTAs, they will now need to prepare for a new environment where travel decisions and transactions take place inside AI interfaces.

The risk is that much of the hotel industry is still treating AI as an internal experiment, while major travel platforms are already making structured hotel content, availability and booking capabilities accessible to AI assistants at scale.

If hotels do not prepare their direct channel, others may become the default way AI represents and sells their inventory.

General Managers should therefore be asking a new set of questions: Can AI assistants find my hotel? Can they access accurate information? Can they check availability? Can they book directly?

The winners will not be the hotels with the most AI tools. They will be the hotels whose knowledge, systems and direct channel make them easy for AI assistants to discover, trust and transact with.