How small hotels can use technology to outpace chains
The GM of The Gallivant, a MICHELIN-key boutique hotel in East Sussex, explains how independents can outmaneuver chains using agile tech stacks, AI tools, and fast iteration cycles.
Opinion Articles
When AI Serves the Guest, Hospitality Wins
A luxury hotel GM with 20+ years of experience argues AI amplifies rather than replaces hospitality professionals, citing Hilton's AI Planner, Be My Eyes partnership, and operational forecasting as real-world examples.
By Chintan Dadhich, Complex General Manager, Hilton
Hospitality Technology Pain Points: Why Hoteliers Are Switching Systems
With 38% of hoteliers citing integrations as a top pain point, the case for open APIs, best-in-class systems, and intuitive UX over all-in-one platforms has never been stronger.
By Priya Rajamani, VP of Implementation & Support, Stayntouch
Here’s what 40 years of investing taught me about capital strategy
A veteran investor argues that capital discipline, not fundraising volume, determines startup success, urging founders to define clear learning milestones before deploying capital.
By Dave Berkus, Managing Partner, BERKONOMICS
How AI delivers real hotel guest personalization—beyond a name on a welcome screen
AI guest journey agents and AR staff tools are closing the gap between the 68% of guests willing to pay more for personalized stays and the 56% of hotels lacking technology to deliver it.
By Alan Young, VP, Strategy | Hospitality, Infor
The Hotel Identity You Chose to Protect May Be the One AI Cannot See
AI travel assistants interpret hotel identity rather than match keywords, putting soft-brand affiliates at risk of being deprioritized when their boutique and chain signals conflict.
By Are Morch, Digital Transformation Coach for Hotels, Are Morch, AI Champion
AI is confidently wrong about your hotel, and the guest arrives believing it
AI tools confidently describe hotels based on outdated sources, leaving front desk staff to manage guest disappointment when closures, renovations, or changes don't match expectations.
By Markus Busch, Editor/Publisher, hospitality.today
HFTP’s AI Collective Solidifies Roadmap to Provide Industry-wide Resources
HFTP's Hospitality AI Collective unveiled a strategic roadmap, five subcommittees, and an AI certification program expected to launch Summer 2026, targeting industry-wide AI education, governance, and research.
By Frank Wolfe, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), HFTP
Five new operating system features that change day-to-day work
Mews announced five new native features at Unfold 2026 in Amsterdam: guest messaging, workflow automations, BI dashboards, integrated RMS, and accounting, all sharing one data model and UI.
How AI builds a predictive operational backbone for hotels: Front desk, housekeeping, and maintenance
An explainer on how AI co-pilots, dynamic housekeeping routing, and IoT-based predictive maintenance can shift hotel operations from reactive firefighting to proactive service delivery.
By Alan Young, VP, Strategy | Hospitality, Infor
Beyond Installation: Why Remote Management and Field Services Are Critical to Self-Service Success in Hospitality
Kiosk.eu makes the case that remote management platforms and field services are as critical as hardware selection for keeping hotel self-check-in kiosks operational and guest-ready.
By Dipesh Bharambe, Digital Marketing Specialist, Kiosk Embedded Systems GmbH
What Horst Schulze Understood About Excellence That Every Hotel Investing in AI Needs to Hear
Drawing on Horst Schulze's service philosophy at Ritz-Carlton and Capella, the piece argues hotels abandon AI too early by measuring the wrong outcomes on the wrong timeline.
By Are Morch, Digital Transformation Coach for Hotels, Are Morch, AI Champion
The Layer That Owns the Guest
A strategic analysis of why AI value in hospitality lies in the application layer around the PMS, not the underlying model, as Microsoft, Amazon, OpenAI, and Anthropic all launch major deployment units.
By Terence Ronson, Founder & Managing Director, Pertlink Limited
We need to talk about fake infographics
AI-generated hotel tech market maps look convincing but contain serious errors, and as presentation quality improves, distinguishing confidence from correctness becomes harder.
By Martin Soler, Partner, Soler & Associates
What I Saw at HITEC 2026 That Nobody Else Is Talking About
The author argues that HITEC 2026 overlooked a key market gap: back-office AI that reduces overhead and drives margins, while vendors focused almost entirely on guest-facing tools.
How AI is transforming the hotel commercial engine: Group sales, revenue management, and unified strategy
AI-powered group quoting agents and commercial strategy tools can unify hotel sales, revenue, and marketing teams on a single data view, cutting RFP response times from days to minutes.
By Alan Young, VP, Strategy | Hospitality, Infor
Is AI Enhancing Customer Support, or is Customer Support Enhancing AI?
Research shows 53% of U.S. consumers have received incorrect information from AI bots, highlighting the risk of over-automating customer service at the expense of human judgment and empathy.
By Shep Hyken, Customer Service and Experience Expert, Keynote Speaker and Bestselling Author, Shepard Presentations, LLC.
The open vs closed ecosystem debate facing every hotelier
Mews CEO Matt Welle weighs the trade-offs between open, best-of-breed tech stacks and consolidated operating systems, arguing the right choice depends on property size, data ambitions, and tolerance for integration complexity.
The Guest Has a Companion Now
UBTech's consumer humanoid robot launch signals a shift in guest expectations that hospitality must address, as home companion AI sets a new relational benchmark hotels are unprepared to meet.
By Terence Ronson, Founder & Managing Director, Pertlink Limited
What Hoteliers Really Need in 2026: Partners who simplify operations, not just more systems.
Reflections from HITEC 2026 show hoteliers are not seeking more technology but simpler, better-connected systems backed by partners who reduce complexity and stay engaged post-implementation.
By Ethan Brown, Head of Sales, Shiji