Piergiorgio Schirru, an expert in revenue management and a pioneer in Italy's hospitality industry, sees AI"s biggest impact in enhancing direct bookings. While AI-driven machine learning is already a major part of revenue management tools, the next evolution will focus on making hotel websites and booking engines more adaptive to guest preferences. Based on Blastness' data from over 2,000 hotels, Schirru believes that guests expect a seamless experience where hotel websites intelligently present the most relevant options, eliminating friction in the booking process.

Another game-changer is conversational selling. Blastness is developing an AI-driven chatbot designed to convert casual inquiries into direct bookings, essentially bringing a concierge-level experience into the online booking journey. With natural language processing (NLP), this chatbot can interact meaningfully with potential guests, providing personalized recommendations and guiding them toward a reservation. As Schirru explains, selling a hotel stay directly is very different from selling a commodity—AI will play a crucial role in making direct bookings smoother, more intuitive, and ultimately more profitable for hotels.