Can integration hubs save the day?

In my previous airline and telcoms world, we used service buses like TIBCO to sit on top of enterprise systems. The upside was the potential of plug and play (although we never actually changed back end ERPs). The downside was extra latency and cost.

When I joined the world of hospitality, service buses like Impala, TigerTMS were around to help de-spagetti-fy a myriad of APIs. Impala disappeared and Tiger reverted to mostly linking telephony systems to PMSes. HConnect, Ireckonu and Nonius Hub have appeared and have some clients, but they still seem niche. CitizenM designed its own hub, which, I think, is still in use, and probably morphed into Ireckonu, given similar investors. Oracle now have their OHIP layer that acts as a bus to link Oracle PMS and POS to partners, but it comes at a cost. The big platform players like Agilysys, Infor and Shiji have their own hubs to link to their own family of modules, but these have limited integration to third parties.

My feel is that hubs / service buses, while being a great concept, have had their day and we are back to point to point API links between the better vendors. The exception is in high volume financial transactions, which tend to use a "Kafka" messaging / data streaming layer, which was born out of the LinkedIn engineering team. They invented it to handle small content but massive volume social media messaging needs like likes, reposts etc. I don't see a move for hospitality into Kafka tech yet. Only the big guys like Marriott, Accor might need it.

The integration hub solution is different for every hotel. The easiest answer starts with new brands or independents. Heading into 2026, there are several great PMS and GEMS players that can fulfill a variety of central operations so that one-off integrations amongst disparate, single-use services aren't as necessary as they were a few years ago. This requires having a strategic outlook for building a ground-up stack around all-in-one systems.

For existing hotels, the answer is far more complicated because the migration process must be taken into account. Ideally, a hotel company that wants to reduce the number of tech partners would first recruit an integration hub to allow continuity as new end points are swapped in for old ones unlike the whole stack is built on fewer and newer systems.

But this still requires a lot of configuration, structuring and testing. It's also a lot of team buy-in and training as well as IT time to manage these migrations and implementations. Ultimately, the human stack may not have the bandwidth to handle rapid change, rendering the integration hub minimally used. The more important question then is: how fast do your hotel really want to change?

In practice, it's not that simple. A hub always depends on common integration standards — yet many systems still lack proper REST APIs to communicate effectively. For example, we dynamically manage room assignments and reassignments based on guest fit and preferences, but not all PMSs even offer APIs that allow us to do this.

Sure, integration hubs like MCP can simplify basic interoperability and make life easier for many, but true innovation requires new data structures and logic — and that means new REST APIs and standards, which most current hubs aren't designed to handle.

A decade ago, I wrote that "system integration is the biggest taboo in travel".

Can the MCP finally break this taboo?

Perhaps. I am a genuine admirer of what the MCP represents, and if it fulfills its promise, it could indeed become the lingua franca of hospitality technology.

Yet optimism must be balanced with realism. The MCP will not miraculously fix the legacy infrastructure that underpins most PMSs. If a system was never designed for real-time, context-aware communication, the MCP will not conjure that ability from thin air. In such environments, the MCP will depend on local connectors, file-based bridges, or robotic automations. These can work, but they remain workarounds, not structural reform.

My friend Alan Young has rightly warned about governance risks, and I share his caution. Exposing a protocol that allows agents to act across live systems demands an entirely new governance. Who defines what an AI agent is allowed to do? A single poorly defined function call could update rates, confirm a booking, or alter a guest profile without human validation.

So yes, the MCP could save us, but it's far from being plug&play... 

Luckily for our industry, the solution is already here in the form of two types of third-party technology integration platforms:

• Cloud PMS with Open API like Opera Cloud PMS, StayNTouch, Protel, CloudBeds, Mews, etc. and their integration platforms, and
• Independent integration hubs, like APS, NoniusHub, SiteMinder, Impala, IreconU, Hapi, and the new type of AI connectivity middleware hubs like the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent-to-Agent (A2A).

I believe the PMS-centric tech stack will continue to dominate hotel technology in the future, but what kind of a PMS? A cloud PMS with its Open API and integration hub that solves the problem of connecting to the myriad of third-party applications, in addition to lower upfront costs, efficiencies, higher productivity and data security.

Good examples: The Oracle Hospitality Integration Platform (OHIP) with 3,000 API capabilities, StayNTouch Integration Hub with 1,100 APIs; Protel Air PMS Marketplace - 1,000 APIs, Cloudbeds PMS - 300 APIs, apaleo PMS Store, etc.

Accor adopted Opera Cloud citing its OHIP platform as one of the main benefits of their decision. 

What should the 650,000 hotels with legacy PMS or no PMS at all do?

I see two options:

• Switching to a cloud PMS
• Partnering with a third-party integration hub.

The industry does not have a "connectivity" problem — it has a strategic architecture problem.

Integration hubs are only a temporary bridge between legacy and next-generation systems. They simplify the API chaos but fail to address the real issue: hospitality's reliance on siloed, outdated infrastructures built for control, not collaboration.

A modern hotel cannot scale intelligence on fragmented data. More integrations do not mean progress — they mean technical debt with better branding. The focus must shift from integration to interoperability: from connecting systems to orchestrating intelligence.

The future lies in AI-enabled interoperability frameworks that:

• Unify data governance across PMS, RMS, CRM, IoT, and marketing platforms through open standards.
• Enable agentic orchestration, where AI systems cooperate autonomously and contextually.
• Empower vendor-neutral ecosystems, freeing hoteliers from lock-in and costly integrations.
• Adopt composable architectures (Microservices, API-first, Cloud-native, Headless) for agility and scalability.

Integration hubs can only "save the day" if they evolve into intelligent orchestration layers — where data flows bi-directionally, systems learn continuously, and insights drive decisions in real time.

The endgame is not connection — it is convergence: people, processes, and platforms operating in synchrony to deliver truly adaptive hospitality.

Because AI evolves so fast, there's a very good chance that there will soon be cool tech that will eliminate the need to build APIs... 

The reality is that connectivity of disparate systems has always been challenging and involved, despite the advances in technology.

We cannot have our cake and eat it too. Technology vendors may offer another layer—be it a Model Context Protocol (MCP) or a new hub—to connect the API-rich ecosystem for onward delivery to AI Agents, but those layers are simply new, non-free costs applied to old architectural issues. They are susceptible to the same fundamental challenges of interfacing multiple disparate systems and data standardisation that plagued previous generations of technology.

The Agents still need to communicate with each other based upon a level of shared data and communication. It's not magic.

The truth is simple and difficult: there is no getting away from simplifying the foundational layer of operational technology. This is the only path to simplifying everything that layers above it. The more disparate the environment, the more difficult and expensive it will be to deploy and maintain any AI strategy.

Eventually, we need to bite the bullet and do the hard work at the foundation to reap the rewards of true digital transformation and achieve a sustainable Competitive Advantage.

Integration hubs are undoubtedly a valuable asset in today's increasingly complex hotel technology landscape. But whether they can "save the day" depends entirely on the depth of integration required. For simple, limited data exchange—such as connecting door lock systems or guest messaging tools—these hubs are effective and efficient. They allow hotels to onboard peripheral systems quickly without major development work or high costs.

However, when it comes to complex, bi-directional integrations—like those required by CRM or Central Data Management (CDM/CDP) systems—the limitations of integration hubs become apparent. A true CRM, for instance, demands deep access to a wide variety of high-quality data. This includes stay histories, preferences, interactions, transactions, and behavior across online and offline touchpoints. To function effectively, such systems require robust, often certified, APIs—not just surface-level connectivity offered by a hub.

In essence, integration hubs are part of the solution, not the solution itself. They offer speed and flexibility for certain use cases but are not equipped to handle the demands of data-intensive systems that power personalization, loyalty, or strategic decision-making. Hoteliers must therefore evaluate integration needs on a case-by-case basis, aligning tech architecture with business goals and guest expectations.

Before discussing solutions, hoteliers must first address a fundamental issue that prevents them from effectively utilising modern technologies, whether or not they are connected via integrations. Hotel technology infrastructure and data practices must be up to par. This includes strong, stable connectivity alongside centralisation of your data collection practices. If you don't solve this, you'll be managing fragmented integrations and disconnected data, impacting the correct training of your AI tools, and your staff will be forced to fight with systems just to get the job done.

The answer is not within "integration hubs" or any single technology, such as a PMS. Instead, the solution lies in the choices you make about the technology you invest in at the platform level. Do you want rigid technologies that force your staff to adapt to them, or do you want flexible technologies that are built to adapt to your operational uniqueness? Suppose your technology providers have not designed their solutions at the onset to be flexible and adaptive to your needs. In that case, you'll be mitigating problems rather than achieving the solutions travellers demand, which require an end-to-end connected system designed specifically to enhance the guest and staff experience.

In hospitality, complexity is the norm standard. From search to checkout, every guest touchpoint relies on seamless integrations behind the scenes. With innovation surging, thousands of hotel tech vendors are reimagining everything from guest experience to operations. The challenge is connecting these solutions quickly and building an AI-ready stack for the future.

That's where integration hubs become unsung heroes. They provide standardized, secure ways to connect new partners, eliminating the burden of one-off development and maintenance. The Oracle Hospitality Integration Platform (OHIP) exemplifies this, unifying integrations through an open API ecosystem. OHIP empowers innovators to experiment faster, deploy smarter, and reduce costs—all while evolving with guest expectations.

OHIP supports two strategies:

• Best of breed: Select the ideal tool for each function
• Point-to-point: Connect systems directly for speed and simplicity

At Oracle, we think that when systems communicate seamlessly in real time, operations flow smoothly and guest experiences feel more personal. Open, connected, collaborative is the future of hotel technology.

Integration hubs or middleware are not necessarily a solution. They have two issues: first, they add another layer of cost, and second, they don't offer enough flexibility when you are building core applications. What the industry really needs is not another "hub" but a shared foundation: open APIs and consistent standards that allow any system to connect freely.

When vendors hoard integrations or make access costly and selective, it slows innovation and locks hoteliers into narrow ecosystems. Openness, on the other hand, invites better solutions and faster progress. If every provider offered transparent, well-documented APIs based on common standards, hotels could choose the tools that fit them best. True collaboration starts with openness, not another proprietary layer.

The modern hotel is already a hyper-connected, real-time business that integrates with over 100 third-party tools. From guest messaging and smart room controls to dynamic pricing, the growing list of essential tech shows no sign of abating. And yet, legacy infrastructure continues to hold hoteliers back.

In the past, hoteliers have been locked into closed systems that made integrations costly, slow, and complex. Many operators avoided new tools – not because they don't see the merit in them, but because the effort to implement them outweighed the benefits. Today, most PMSs - whether on-premise or cloud-based - have evolved into all-in-one solutions, which often limits the ability for third-party apps to integrate or compete.

The solution can only lie in open, API-first platforms - not integration hubs that serve only as a patchwork fix, but foundational systems purpose-built for flexibility. An open platform allows hoteliers to connect, test and replace tools in hours without vendor lock-in or disruptive system overhauls.

We are already well into the AI-first era. Platforms like Apaleo enable intelligent, agent-based systems that interact with guest-facing AI and third-party tools via standards like MCP. With the launch of our Agent Hub, the industry"s first AI agent marketplace, and MCP server, we've taken a major step toward that future.

Hospitality requires open infrastructure built for change; integration hubs alone arent enough.