There’s a popular myth making the rounds in hospitality tech circles that AI will fix everything. That you can plug in a chatbot here, an algorithm there, and suddenly your operations are running on autopilot and every guest gets a “wow” moment.
The announcement from Cloudflare regarding their default blocking of AI bots and the introduction of a “pay-per-crawl” system is a significant and largely positive development for the digital landscape, particularly as it pertains to our core industries of hospitality and travel.
Hotel bidding sites allow you to fill slow periods in your operations. These unexpected dips in demand can tie up cash flow and leave staff staring at half-empty corridors. Bidding platforms give you a quiet back door to move those vacant rooms, protecting the rates guests see on OTAs while topping up revenue that would otherwise slip away.
The impact of a major water leak incident in a hotel can be both immediate and long lasting. Among the immediate consequences can be dealing with guest complaints, cancelling reservations and managing renovation work.
In hospitality, the tech can be perfect, the workflows seamless, and the reports dialed in — and yet, things still stall. Why? Because the people meant to power the system were never really trained to use it.
Rising costs, a shrinking labor pool and soaring guest expectations have created the perfect storm for hoteliers. It's a squeeze that shows no signs of letting up, and it means that hotels are often required to run with leaner teams – while still delivering standout service.
The hospitality industry has always been about people, connecting with guests, anticipating their needs, and delivering memorable experiences. But what happens when the hospitality sector embraces a new kind of partnership: one where Artificial Intelligence (AI) and humans collaborate to amplify these experiences? What if AI could empower hoteliers, streamline operations, and enhance guest interactions in a way that was never possible before?
The business community has welcomed artificial intelligence as a key means of adapting to today’s changing workforce and recommending actions based on data analytics; however, according to experts, the hotel industry has yet to leverage it fully. A recent study by McKinsey found that as many as 78 percent of respondents say their organizations use AI in at least one business function, a 6-percentage-point increase from 2024. With so many core processes now informed by AI, hoteliers must bring these capabilities into the heart of their operations: the property-management system.
Africa’s transformation story is often centred around infrastructure. Cables, towers, devices, datacentres. However, transformation doesn’t start with hardware; it starts with people, with connections and insights on platforms designed to help companies understand their customers and serve them more effectively. As Mandla Mbonambi, CEO of Africonology, points out, African businesses need technology solutions flexible and agile enough to thrive despite the challenges of infrastructure, and that are localised and capable of growing with them.
Hotel technology can get complicated. If I had to explain why this is to a kid or a golden retriever, I would say it’s because we used the best tools at our disposal at the time, stitching things together as best we could over years or even decades, and then tried to continuously pivot to newer, better systems while keeping the engine running.
For a long time, accommodation, which evolved into hospitality, was a key component of the travel chain. It was an essential link, certainly, but it came at the end of the transportation chain and served as the starting point for the chain of tourist or business activities. This travel chain created – and still creates – a variety of ecosystems with their specialized actors: transport providers, accommodation providers, receptive agencies, leisure sites, restaurants... Solid by nature, yet often rivals, even antagonistic, when it comes to sharing the value chain.
After three decades in hospitality technology, we've watched countless operational trends come and go. But AI concierge tools represent something different, they're not about replacing the human touch that makes hospitality special. Instead, they're about freeing your team to deliver more of it.
In today's hospitality sector, discussions among hoteliers invariably lead to artificial intelligence (AI). Announced as a transformative force, AI is poised to redefine everything from guest services and dynamic pricing to predictive analytics and content creation. However, a significant gap exists between this potential and its current implementation. This raises critical questions: what is the true state of AI adoption in the industry and what primary obstacles are impeding its progress?
In hospitality, knowledge is power—but only if it’s accessible. Too often, the people who need critical answers the most—the ones on the floor, in the kitchen, or starting a shift—are the least likely to find them quickly.
With expectations of limited revenue growth in 2025, U.S. hoteliers are focusing on all expense categories within their hotels. Early indications are that property operators are doing a commendable job managing the more controllable expenses within their operated departments, however, containing the undistributed department expenses is proving to be more of a challenge.
Should a hotel GM have to consult a legal advisor every time a vendor updates their cloud TOS? This isn’t a theoretical debate anymore; for hoteliers juggling international guests, loyalty programs, and global cloud systems, data sovereignty has become a frontline concern. And it’s reshaping how hotels choose their tech partners.
When a guest walks into your hotel, they expect a seamless experience. The check-in should be quick, their key should work instantly, and payments should just happen. None of that is possible without the right infrastructure – and most of the time, when it's working perfectly, no one notices it.
At HITEC Indianapolis, one of the most forward-thinking sessions tackled a topic set to redefine how the hospitality industry engages with its guests: Decentralized Identity, sometimes referred to as Self-Sovereign Identity (SSI). In a world where personalisation and data privacy increasingly go hand in hand, Decentralized Identity offers a radical new approach that empowers travellers to take control of their digital identities while enabling hotels, airlines, and travel providers to deliver seamless, secure, and highly personalised experiences.
As fireworks light up the sky and music pulses from rooftop lounges to poolside decks, July 4th in the U.S. has evolved into far more than just a celebration of independence, it’s a celebration of experiences. And powering many of the unforgettable moments this holiday weekend is technology purpose-built for experience commerce.
Hotel innovation is a people problem before it is a tech problem. Since HITEC, I’ve been reminiscing less about the tech I saw and more about the people I met. Yes, AI was everywhere, literally everywhere, predictive analytics, plenty of stuff some good - but not only. But the biggest takeaway wasn’t a product. It was this: success doesn’t come from the tech, it comes from the people.