Sometimes it’s useful to look to other industries to get inspiration for how to improve efficiency and experiences. Sometimes you don’t need to look so far.
Among friends, we joke that WIHP (now part of Cendyn) was the PayPal Mafia of hotel marketing. It sparked more entrepreneurs than any other hotel tech startup I know of (Design Hotels did quite good too). It wasn’t planned that way, of course. But for a few years, there was this unique cluster of talent, energy, creativity, and sheer determination that somehow all landed in one place - and which then went off to create even more hotel marketing technology and agencies.
There remains an uncomfortable truth about technology investment – rigidity costs more than it saves. All-in-one systems, long-term vendor dependencies and software lock-ins are giving way to a new reality where success rests on how rapidly an organisation can move, connect and adapt to changes and disruptions in the market. Digital transformation is estimated at $30.24 billion in 2025 and expected to reach $63.31 billion by 2030, but for Mandla Mbonambi, CEO of Africonology, while the conversation around digital transformation is still highly relevant and ongoing, it is now also shifting to incorporate digital composition[1].
Standing at a hotel reception desk, tired from travel, only to be told the system won’t let us into our room? In hospitality, technology is meant to streamline and elevate the guest experience, but what happens when it does the opposite? This article dives into the hidden emotional cost of tech failures in hotels, revealing how even the sleekest systems can backfire and why the human touch still matters more than ever.
To write about the future is, inevitably, to be wrong about the future. I have repeated this for years, and yet, it remains the truest sentence I know. The mistake, however, is not a failure of prediction but a form of knowledge. We now inhabit a “post-postmodern”, almost “post-futurist” condition, a time in which tomorrow no longer stretches ahead as a horizon but hovers above us like a permanent update, endlessly refreshing itself. And although the Singularity that Kurzweil foresaw two decades ago has not yet fully arrived, his law of accelerating returns already permeates the present, altering our perception of time and possibility. Within this landscape, those of us who attempt to understand technology are no longer prophets, but rather cartographers of the impermanent, tracing transient patterns across the shifting topography of innovation. What follows, therefore, are not laws but coordinates, ten mutable constellations, ten subtle tremors that delineate the tectonic rewriting of business, technology, and meaning itself. Because the future, in the end, is no longer what it used to be.
Over the summer, a pink yacht docked off Marassi Marina in Egypt’s North Coast offering on-board beauty services by the Egyptian brand, Beauty 911 had appeared on my Instagram feed. I had no plans of going to Egypt but within minutes of seeing this Instagram reel, my August plans became experiencing the pink yacht with my girlfriends before the summer ended. What I felt in those moments, unfolding a scenario I hadn’t planned, is today’s traveler letting curiosity, preferences, and desire drive every decision. One captivating idea, one scroll-stopping image, can completely rewrite their travel.
Technology shouldn’t get in the way of hospitality. It should make it effortless. That’s the thinking behind the Mews Summer Release, fittingly named Smooth Operations. It’s designed to create more fluid, connected experiences for both guests and teams, with automation doing the heavy lifting in the background.
As the leaves turn and summer’s bustle gives way to cooler days, October can feel like a lull for many hotel operators. But for properties that know how to mine the gold in data, this shoulder season can become one of the most profitable windows of the year. By harnessing property-management system insights, hoteliers can maximize off-peak revenues by analyzing past trends, understanding cancellation behavior, and deploying targeted tactics against a softer demand environment.
Two years ago, when my book "We Are The Glitch" came out, I wrote something that felt more like a provocation than a prediction. At the time, the idea that platforms like Expedia Group or Booking.com could live inside a conversational interface sounded speculative, even poetic. And yet, this week, with OpenAI announcing native apps within ChatGPT and naming those very brands among the first integrations, that line between vision and reality has vanished.
The property management system has evolved into the nerve center of modern hotel operations. In 2025, it’s not just the system that keeps rooms occupied and bills paid—it’s the platform shaping guest journeys, enabling staff productivity, powering revenue strategies, and syncing entire technology ecosystems.
In the early computer age, when the first hotel property management systems arrived, most hoteliers saw them as tools, not turning points. These machines helped process reservations, print folios, and store guest records faster than any ledger could. But in hindsight, those systems changed everything.
For decades, loyalty in hospitality has been defined by points, perks and predictable upgrades. But what does loyalty actually mean today – and what should it mean in the future?
AI is everywhere right now. It’s in your newsfeed, in the trade magazines, at the hotel conferences, and yes, even creeping into those late-night WhatsApp chats with fellow operators. The promises are shiny: faster check-ins, smarter pricing, happier guests, more efficient staff.
Time is money, especially in hospitality. When it comes to deploying new technology, speed can be the difference between staying under budget and gaining a real competitive edge. With rising operating costs, hoteliers are turning to technology to lighten labor demands and help weather an unpredictable market. Making big technology decisions means partnering closely with leaders who understand both the hurdles and the urgency of getting new tools live.
Much has been written about the potential of AI in hospitality—particularly its promise to enhance the customer journey, reduce operational costs, and mitigate staff shortages. Yet, when viewed from a broader perspective, one could argue that AI may ultimately become the sector’s most powerful growth driver—but not necessarily in the way most anticipate. And the path toward this opportunity may be quite turbulent.
Oh great, another article about AI.
Running a hotel today can feel like captaining a ship through stormy waters. Guest expectations rise like relentless waves. OTA commissions drag on profits like heavy currents. Staff row tirelessly, yet exhaustion spread across the deck. Some days, survival feels like the only option.
I’ve worked in hotel tech long enough to know that most meaningful changes don’t arrive with a bang. They come in crawling in quietly, before they begin to walk. But they reshape our operations one baby step, one workflow, one guest interaction at a time. But every so often, multiple changes come together in a way that completely redefines the landscape. Right now, we’re seeing exactly that.
The hospitality industry has always been about people — welcoming guests, creating memorable stays, and building experiences that keep travelers coming back. But behind the scenes, there’s a growing challenge that nearly every hotel owner, general manager, and operator is facing: labor shortages and rising costs.
If you’ve ever stood in line at a hotel reception, you know how quickly excitement can turn into frustration. Guests arrive with bags, families and expectations – but a slow-moving queue at check-in is often the first impression they get. For hoteliers, this isn’t just an operational issue. It’s a brand issue. Those first (and last) moments shape guest satisfaction more than almost anything else.